Category: Everyday Life


Aug
2017

Friday Favorites {8.4.17}

categories: Everyday Life
This post contains affiliate links. Click here to read my full disclosure statement.

 

Happy Friday (or as our boys have taken to exclusively calling it – FriYAY)! Hope everyone has had a good week. It’s hard to believe it is August already. This has been the fastest summer I can remember!

 

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

one

I have a confession. I realize this is unpopular but until this week, I was not a fan at ALL of dry shampoo. I just couldn’t get on board with the heavy feeling of it in my hair with all the ones I have tried. At my hair appointment this week, my stylist used a new line of products on my hair she thought I would like and clearly she knows me very well. I am in love. The whole Amika line smells amazing (seriously amazing) and I have now found the first dry shampoo I have ever liked. It’s not heavy and doesn’t feel like powder on my hair. I jokingly said that she has changed my life… but I’m not entirely sure I was exaggerating. 😉

 

two

 

I’ve talked before about our boys obsession with animals lately thanks in large part to Wild Kratts on PBS. They love to check out animal books at the library and one of their very favorite places to go is the zoo. A few months ago Caleb’s animal book of choice for the week was about tigers and he started talking about how his ‘biggest dream in life was to see a tiger in real life’. We took a day trip at the beginning of the summer to a zoo with a tiger but of course on the day we were there, the tiger wasn’t out in his habitat. We went to a different zoo last weekend and they saw TWO tigers. Sweet boy’s summer was made.

They entertained us the rest of the day with random animal facts they have learned from Wild Kratts (like ‘Did you know that rhinos have poor eyesight Mom?’). We had the best day… until Reid threw up all over me and we had to drive two hours home smelling like it. The rest of it was good though. Haha! #someoneisalwayspukingwhenyouhavefourkids

 

three

 

This week’s Twin Tuesday post was all about how to include your older kids when you bring home a newborn (or two!). I wrote this from the perspective of twins joining our family but all these tips also apply to families preparing to bring one baby home too. Bringing home a new baby is an adjustment for everyone, especially younger kiddos who really had no idea of what to expect or knew what a new baby (or two!) joining the family really means. We dealt with some growing pains for sure when we brought our babies home and hopefully anyone with children who are preparing for a new baby can learn from some of our mistakes and work out your kinks faster than we did!

 

four

 

We are to the point of the summer where everyone is tired of our toys, tired of the same bike ride path and I’m all out of new ideas of things to do all day. Randomly, last week Luke was playing with our Magformers over near the front door and figured out that the magnets would stick to the steel door. He started building with them on the door and everyone’s minds were blown. I don’t know why it never occurred to us before that they can stick to more than just each other!  They have made giant towers sticking out from the door and crazy designs that they tear down and remake a million times. Magformers have always been a favorite toy but now they are completely resurrected and they have played with them for over an hour every day this week. An end of summer win.

 

 

five

 

Finally, we plan to finish up our summer bucket list this weekend (you can tell we took turns writing on it). We have done everything except go on a train and make popsicles. We were informed when the list was made that a zoo train doesn’t count so I guess we are off to find a real one this weekend. I can’t even believe that we only have a couple more weeks left of summer and Eli just joined his brothers and figured out the joy of sleeping in…

 

Those are my favorites this week! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

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Jul
2017

Friday Favorites! {7.28.17}

categories: Everyday Life
This post contains affiliate links. Click here to see my full disclosure statement.

Happy Friday! This week has seemed to fly for us. Josh took a vacation day in the middle of the week and we spent the day at a really cool park with some friends and the evening at swim lessons and grilling burgers. Just the refresher I needed mid-week to make it through!

I’m linking up with Erika, Andrea and Narci for Friday Favorites! Per the usual, I have a wide array of things on my favorites list this week!

 

one

 

On Saturday night when the heat index was up over 100 degrees, we made homemade ice cream with our crew old school style by rolling a coffee can up and down our driveway. Our boys LOVED it and shockingly the ice cream was actually really good. We used to do this all the time growing up with my mom but this time I switched out some of the ingredients with what we had in the house. (The recipe we used as kids called for half and half – we used 2% milk this time- and rock salt but I used just regular table salt and it worked perfectly.)

 

 

We mixed 1 cup of milk, 1/2 tsp of vanilla and 2 tbs of sugar in a quart size baggie that we sealed after removing as much air as we could. We put 3 cups of ice and 1/3 cup of salt in a gallon size baggie and mixed it up a bit. Then we put the quart size baggie inside the freezer size bag, sealed it and put it in a coffee can so we could roll it. You could absolutely just shake up the baggie but it was more fun for our kids to roll the can instead of shaking a bag.

 

 

We rolled the can for about 10 minutes for the first batch and the ice cream had gotten so cold/frozen that it was more like dip n’ dots consistency. When Josh and I made another batch for us to try, we rolled it for about 5 minutes which was a ‘just barely frozen’ consistency which is how I prefer my ice cream anyway. Both ways were delicious.Our kiddos topped it with chocolate syrup. They were so into it and have been asking to do it again since! Easy family fun is always a FAVORITE around here.

 

two

The time we prefer to go to Church on Sunday does not have a nursery for the littles so we all sit together every week. It has been getting harder and harder to keep our twins quiet (and contained!) as they get older and more adventurous! I’m pretty sure we keep everyone behind us very entertained with all the activity. I saw these Melissa and Doug Pop Blocs and got a set for Luke and Reid because they were so cute. All the animals are made of two pieces that come apart and can be switched with other animal pieces to make a cow-pig or a horse-sheep,etc.They are hands down their new favorite toy PLUS they are quiet toys and perfect for Church! I keep a few of the animals in our Church bag so they are excited by them every week and our pew is quiet…. for a little while at least. 😉

 

three

As much as I’m trying to live in denial, it is Back to School shopping time. If you are looking for a bento style lunch box for your kiddo, we love Yumbox Panino. I bought one for Caleb last year to take to kindergarten and I plan on ordering another one this year so we have two. I love this brand because their largest part is big enough to fit a sandwich. Some of the other ones I found only had room for small items and while I don’t pack it often, sometimes a sandwich is his lunch choice. I put it in his lunch box with a thin ice pack and his leftovers were always still cold when we got home in the afternoon. They are top rack dishwasher safe which I love too. (Heads up- if your child is not super good at remembering to empty their lunch when they get home every day and perhaps everyone forgets about it over the weekend, the silicone will smell like the food that is in it. That happened to us one time and I had to soak it in vinegar for awhile to get the smell out. After that, we made sure to be more on top of emptying his lunch box and didn’t have a problem with smell again.)

 

four

I mentioned last week that Eli was having trouble all of a sudden at swim lessons. Earlier in the summer he had passed level 1 easily and with no issues at all- all smiles! When level 2 started, he suddenly developed this intense fear of drowning and it got to the point where he was too afraid to even do the things he was doing fine the week before. I could tell he was trying but he just couldn’t get past the fear and was getting so upset about even being in the water. The instructors at lessons were so sweet to him and took turns talking to him and reassuring him (and so did we of course) but he was just really struggling with the fear that no one would save him if he went under.

We talked about it, I prayed about it, we even pretended we were floating in the water on our living room floor! After a week of struggling we decided it would be best to pull him out and try again another time. Wouldn’t you know though… Eli woke up on Monday morning with a brand new determination and wanted to go to lessons. Sweet boy got to swim lessons on Monday, jumped in the water, floated on his back with a huge smile and never looked back. Last night was the last day of summer session, he passed his level and I am SO PROUD of him. Such a FAVORITE this week.

 

five

I stumbled across this post by The Humbled Homemaker written by her husband about having all girls and the comments strangers (and even acquaintances) make when you are a parent of children of all the same gender. You know how sometimes things just speak to you as if they had read all the thoughts in your mind? This one did for me.

People ask us all the time if we are going to have another to ‘try for a girl’ – seriously all. the. time. Or they say “Don’t worry. My sister/aunt/friend had four boys and then a girl!”  That’s great…. but why am I worried? I love my boys! I know God knew what he was doing when he blessed me with four boys.

I just loved it. If you have all girls or all boys or get unsolicited comments from strangers about your beautiful family…read this one. FAVORITE!

 

Hope you all have the very best weekend. Bring it on August!

 

I’d love to connect on social media – Follow me on Instagram here. Comment on this post with your insta and I’ll follow you back!

 

If you missed my other posts from this week, find Twin Tuesday: The Best Children’s Books About Twins here and my What’s Up Wednesday link-up here!


Jul
2017

What’s Up Wednesday

categories: Everyday Life

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

 

What We’re Eating This Week….

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

Sunday- Chicken gyros with homemade cucumber tzatziki

Monday – Blue Cheese Burgers and Wedge Salads

Tuesday – Sloppy Joes and steamed broccoli

Wednesday – Paninis with cold veggies/dip

Thursday – Grilled barbeque chicken with pasta salad

Friday- Pizza night!! (#andallthemamassaidamen)

 

What I’m Reminiscing About…..

 

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

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

 

What I’m Loving….

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

 

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

 

 

What We’ve Been Up To….

A lot of swim lessons.

A lot of bike rides.

 

Except when the bike path looks like this…

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

 

What I’m Dreading….

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

 

What I’m Working On….

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

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

 

What I’m excited about….

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

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

 

What I’m watching/reading….

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

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

 

What I’m listening to….

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

 

What I’m doing this weekend….

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

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

 

What I’m looking forward to next month….

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

 

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

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

 

 

Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!!

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Jul
2017

Friday Favorites

categories: Everyday Life

Happy happy Friday everyone!

It’s been a hot, sticky week here with heat indexes over 100 degrees since Wednesday. Ick. The heat doesn’t get me as much as the humidity when the air makes me feel like I need to take a shower the moment I step outside. I think we are in for a hot weekend so I’m thinking some pool time is going to have to be on tap!

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

 

ONE

I have to start off with the real reason my eyes are even open right now. LOVE this coffee from Harry and David. My mom is a teacher and spends her summer breaks with little day trips and outlet shopping. #goals She brought back these little treasures for me last week and I’m in love. The mocha coffee seriously makes the whole house smell like a chocolate brownie when I make it. For this time of year though, the coconut is my favorite. It just tastes like summer to me. Specialty coffees are always a FAVORITE here.

 

TWO

New episodes of Suits are back! We watched the first episode of season 7 this week on USA and it’s already drawing us in. This season looks to have some big changes for the show after one of the main female leads left last season and I’m excited to see what the writers do with it. If you like law shows, you should seriously check it out!

If you missed my Tuesday Talk post, I shared our favorite shows to watch as a couple and Suits was one of them! Plus, all the shows in my post are available on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video. Sitting together and watching a show or two in the late evening with my husband is always a FAVORITE.

 

THREE

If I’m being honest, it’s been kind of a rough week around here. The heat has kept our outside activities more limited than usual which is probably partially responsible for the increase in bickering and serious crabbiness going on around here. Also, our sweet Eli (Mr. Never Been Afraid of Anything in His Entire Life)  is having a lot of trouble with this session of swim lessons and has suddenly developed an intense fear of the water which we are struggling to get through. I was moving some pictures from my phone to our picture storage and I saw this image I had saved a couple months ago from Ashley Willis. I SO needed to see that this week and needed the reminder that God has my back in everything. I’m praying for the grace and guidance to get through these tough times even when I feel like I am totally underwater. A favorite for this week- no question.

 

FOUR

Sunday night, Caleb and Eli went for a big boy sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa’s so Josh and I had a whole evening with just our twins. I can’t even remember the last time that happened! We absolutely took advantage of half our crew being gone and went to Lowe’s with just two kiddos, played outside, had a fun dinner with just our littlest and had some bonus time to ourselves once they were in bed. I know they liked the extra time together and more one-on-one time with any of our kids is always a favorite! Oh and you better believe the older boys came back with stories of Despicable Me 3, ice cream with dinner and staying up way too late. 😉

FIVE

I read Lauren Graham’s newest book Talking as Fast as I Can, and I really enjoyed it. If you liked her on Gilmore Girls, you would like this book. I think it reads just like she talks and is full of funny side comments. It wasn’t the typical autobiography that I was expecting but more of a collection of short essays that made up each chapter. I loved her in Gilmore Girls and Parenthood and there was a chapter on her experience filming each of those shows plus another on the Gilmore Girls reboot this past fall. It was an easy read and I enjoyed it, even if it wasn’t the usual memoir type book that I was expecting!

I’m reading her first book now that’s called Someday, Someday Maybe (that’s fiction) and so far I’m liking it too!

 

Those are my favorites today! Hope you all have a good weekend!

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Jul
2017

Tuesday Talk – Favorite shows to binge watch as a couple!

categories: Everyday Life

Today I’m linking up with Erika and Fancy Ashley for Tuesday Talk!

Even though it’s summer right now, with swim lessons, working on our house after the kids go to bed most nights and just the fact of keeping 4 kiddos happy and alive, Josh and I have been completely exhausted lately! One thing that gets me through is knowing that I can hang out with my husband and watch a really good episode or two of a show together at the end of each day. It gives us something to look forward to together and sometimes sparks conversations that we probably never would have had!

Here are a list of our top shows we love to watch together and are husband-approved. Plus! All these shows are available to stream on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video!

 

White Collar

This is our very favorite show probably ever. We love LOVE White Collar. It’s about a convict convicted of bond forgery (and accused of about a million other white collar crimes) who is released from jail to wear a tracking anklet and become a consultant for the FBI. The writing of this show is amazing and the cases are often suspenseful and keep us watching more and more episodes until too late in the night. Matt Bomer (who I love!) plays the FBI consultant and his chemistry with Tim DeKay who is his FBI handler makes the entire show. If you’re not sold yet, just watch the Pilot episode. It’s one of the best pilots I’ve ever seen. I’m not ashamed to say that we have watched this entire series multiple times!

All 6 seasons of White Collar are available to stream on Netflix.

 

Survivor

Josh and I are serious Survivor Junkies. We found Survivor about 9 years ago when it was airing on CBS and have watched every season they have aired since and caught up on all the old seasons we missed. It is a reality competition show but it’s so much more than that. A group of people are put on an island and have to survive (make their own shelter, catch food, etc) while also competing in physical competitions. The group votes someone out every week and the best part is that at the end of the game the last batch of people voted out actually become the jury who votes for the person who wins the game and a million dollars. We love watching the strategy, psychological games, and unpredictability of human behavior.  All the seasons are good but a lot of them are GREAT. Season 1 when the game had just begun is such a classic but is a little different than the rest of the series because it’s filmed a bit more documentary style. My advice if you have never seen the show is to start with Survivor Micronesia (season 16) or Survivor Tocantins (Season 18).

19 of their 34 seasons are streaming on Amazon Prime Video. (If you love it like we do, pay the small monthly fee for CBS All Access and you will have access to stream all 34 seasons!)

 

Suits

Suits is another one of our very favorites. It’s similar to White Collar in that there are two very likeable male leads who have amazing chemistry together and the supporting cast is full of some strong, badass female characters. It’s about a man with a photographic memory who was hired to work at a top law firm as a lawyer under one of the best in the country, except he isn’t actually a lawyer. The show is about different law cases, love triangles and eventually about how to contain Mike’s secret that he is working as a lawyer without actually being one. The show is suspenseful and cleverly written by writers who aren’t afraid to throw some curve balls at the characters. Especially as the show goes on and more and more people inevitably find out. Watch the pilot of this one too and tell me you aren’t hooked!

Suits is still airing on USA but has the rest of the series available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

 

Parenthood

Parenthood is an amazingly well-written and acted show about families. It’s completely relatable as a parent and as a child and full of real everyday problems. It has a huge cast full of some big names and we loved every minute of it. I never watched it while it was airing on NBC because I heard it was sad and I can’t do sad shows that bring me down. We binge watched this on Netflix and I have to say I completely and totally disagree. It’s not sad at all, for sure thought-provoking and sometimes pulls at your emotions-  but not sad! So if you are holding out because of that, I promise you won’t feel that way. I loved watching this one with Josh because it that stimulated so much conversation about how we were raised and how we wanted to raise our own kids.

Parenthood is streaming all episodes on Netflix.

 

The West Wing

The West Wing is a fast-paced show about life in the White House and the outside lives of the staffers who work there. I loved Martin Sheen as president and even if you aren’t a lover of political talk (like I’m not!) you will like this show for the drama that comes along with it. Even though The West Wing aired in the early 2000’s, it’s amazing how many of the issues, political and otherwise, are still relevant today. It has won a ton of awards and has some amazing actors. This is a show that always gets us thinking and talking because it’s so well written.

All episodes of The West Wing are streaming on Netflix.

 

A little extra bonus tip – we watched The People vs. OJ Simpson when it aired on FX last year and loved it.  There is only 1 season of 10 episodes and even though we obviously knew the ending it was suspenseful and drew us in every week. I thought I knew the basic story line of the famous trial but since I was still in grade school when it happened, there apparently was so much I forgot or didn’t know. We found it fascinating. It is streaming on Netflix too.

 

Okay, those are my picks for series to watch with your spouse. What are we missing? We would love to find some new good ones. Comment with some of your favorites that are husband friendly! (Gilmore Girls and One Tree Hill were already vetoed… surprise, surprise.) 😉

Happy Tuesday to all!

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Jul
2017

Friday Favorites

categories: Everyday Life

Happy Friday to you! I spent all week thinking we were a day ahead so this week has seemed super long! I even sent a text to my friend praying for her daughter’s surgery a day ahead. *facepalm*  Thanks be to God it is actually Friday today! 😉  I’m linking up with Erika, Andrea and Narci for my very first Friday favorites!

ONE

I’ve talked a bit about my love of double strollers and how we were looking to find a lighter, easier to navigate stroller now that our twins are out of their infant seats. I debated for a long time but we finally bought the Joovy X2 Double and I LOVE it. I originally wanted a jogger with a single front wheel but read so many reviews about that front wheel shaking while running with it. I’ve jogged many times with our Joovy and love how it maneuvers. We’ve taken it on the baseball fields, to the zoo and to fireworks without any problems with its size. It is narrow enough to fit through a single doorway everywhere we have tried!

Also, it turns out I’m kind of a stroller hoarder because even though I love our new Joovy I can’t seem to get rid of the others.  Josh screwed some heavy duty hooks on the edge of our garage ceiling so we could get all the strollers off the floor. It’s great for space but it’s making it more obvious how much I need to get rid of them….perhaps part of his evil plan! 😉 Don’t let those tired faces fool you- Luke and Reid love it too! This stroller is a FAVORITE in our house!

TWO

This week, Josh and I celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary. We always order a small cake from the bakery who made our wedding cake every year to celebrate. I look forward to this week every year because of course I love to celebrate our marriage but I also have to get my hands on that cake. 😉 It’s white cake with raspberry filling and their famous buttercream icing. It did not disappoint.

Wow can 8 years fly by. I am so blessed to have this supportive, patient man as my partner to do life with. He has always inspired me every day to be better and from day 1 has always loved and accepted me in spite of my flaws. (Except my tendency to leave the windshield wipers on at full speed after it has stopped raining very hard so they squeak against the windshield. He said that had to go. Haha!) Josh was saying our wedding day feels like lifetimes ago and it sure was. Four little lifetimes ago! To many, many more happy years! My husband is always a FAVORITE around here.

 

THREE

Has anyone read any of Matthew Kelly’s books? If not, you should seriously consider it. My bible study read his new book Resisting Happiness over the past couple of months and I completely loved it. I’ve been a fan of Matthew Kelly for about a year now and love his mission. It made me really think about what being happy means to me and what a serious waste being unhappy is. I came away with new prayer ideas, new strategies to get through the low parts of life we all deal with and a completely new understanding of the simplest concept that he focuses on: Happiness is a choice! A new FAVORITE mantra of mine.

He offers this book and a bunch of his others free if you pay shipping and handling here.

 

FOUR

Now that we’re out of the infant twin stage and have some sweet toddlers that finally enjoy their rest (!!!), we’ve been trying to get some work done on our house. We’re working on our family room and exterior (front door and shutters) right now and found this painting app we love. Paint tester allows you to take a picture of your room and visually try out different paint colors on your walls. I have debated what color to use on our exterior for months and this app helped me realize that our brick on the outside gives us a limit on what colors will look good. Thank goodness we found this app or I would have wasted a lot of time repainting! Bad news is I’m back to square one on colors….

FIVE

If you were overwhelmed by all the school papers and projects that came home from school with your kids this past school year than check out my post on how we control the clutter and display our kiddos art projects. I love how the display wall came out and more than that I love that this was a solution to the paper clutter all over my house and refrigerator. The kids love to show off their chosen projects on our display wall to everyone who comes in our house. 😉 If this is a problem for you- check it out! This solution is definitely a FAVORITE for our family.

That’s it! How’d I do on my first Friday Favorites? Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

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Jul
2017

A week with us!

categories: Everyday Life

What summer fun we had this week (and a half)! We enjoyed the fourth of July, some beautiful weather and some bonus family time with the holiday. I was definitely not ready to get back to normal everyday when Monday rolled around!

We spent a lot of time outside lately while the weather was unseasonably cool. Caleb and Eli have become obsessed with tracing each other with chalk on the driveway and making their outlines into monsters.

We got these little trikes for Luke and Reid for Easter and until recently they were afraid of them. I guess they assumed they were stationary chairs and when they would roll forward they were SO mad. Now, after seeing big brothers on their bikes they are starting to understand the concept of pushing themselves forward! Their little seats open to store ‘treasures’ and we have certainly found some in there including old snacks, mass amount of rocks from our landscaping and toys we thought had been lost. 😉

Baseball season is over for Caleb! He had a great year and is already asking about next season. Truthfully, Josh and I were ready for it to be over because of all the games/practices every week. And this was only t-ball! I don’t know how all the families at higher levels with more time commitment do it. Props to you all.

Another Caleb mention. He had his long awaited eye appointment to see if his eyesight had improved from wearing his patch all day everyday for the last month. His eyesight did improve so they recommended he continue to wear it part time for another month and then we will go back and make sure his eyesight has stayed the same. He got a new pair of glasses that he loves and is completely pumped about not having to wear his patch as much. I’m so proud of him for being so responsible with this and all things considered, hardly complaining about it. I think his glasses make him look so old!

Josh and I went for an overnight away to see one of his close friends get married. It was our first time being away overnight since our twins were born so we were definitely enjoying some alone time. A quiet 3.5 hour ride that we could actually carry on a conversation and only stop once on the way there. It was wonderful having some time together!

We spent our fourth having a bbq at my aunt’s, a little zoo time to visit the new ocean exhibit and seeing fireworks. We have been waiting months for the ocean exhibit to open and it did not disappoint.

The kids LOVED seeing the octopus and some small sharks!

They had a very nice Animal Educator there who spent some time with the boys showing them a shark jaw, an octopus beak and some other cool ocean things. When we went to the library later in the week, you better believe they hit up the ocean section because they needed to know even more details about him.

 

Last year Luke and Reid slept through the fireworks so we weren’t really sure what to expect from them this year but they did great!

They loved their glow sticks which kept them entertained while we were waiting for the fireworks.

We got there a little bit too early giving us an hour or so to wait so by the time they were ready to start, Luke and Reid had lost interest in the whole adventure. They played with each other climbing in and out of the stroller while the rest of us watched! Hey, whatever keeps them happy. 😉

We spent some time over the weekend with some friends that we haven’t seen in awhile and our kiddos were thrilled.

Their kids are very close in age to ours and they all picked up right where they left off. When we left our fun day, Eli was SO sad and truly couldn’t understand why we couldn’t invite them to live in our house with us….

Hope everyone had a wonderful week!


Jun
2017

A week with us

categories: Everyday Life

We had a jam-packed week/weekend that has all of us still feeling tired from all the fun! We finally got some cooler weather more typical of June in Iowa and had to make the most of it!

The beginning of summer means watermelon time in our house. I was never really a watermelon lover until I was obsessed with it while pregnant with our twins and thankfully that love of it has remained. This was the first year Luke and Reid have eaten watermelon and fittingly, they LOVE it. I get out the bowl from the fridge and they get so excited they start waving their arms around. It’s so funny!

Eli went to a birthday party of one of his friends from school and had the BEST time. They really knew what four year olds wanted and had a bouncy house and a water slide! It’s not often that Eli has something that is only his to go to and he could not stop talking about how much fun he had. He didn’t care about the pinata, the cupcakes, or anything else besides that water slide. He asked if we could get one for his birthday in December and I’m not exactly sure how to break it to him…. 😉

I have always cut our boys hair since Caleb was little and attempted to give Luke and Reid haircuts while Josh was at work the other day. I usually only do it in the evening when he is home, and now I remember why. We were a hot mess! Hair everywhere… but Reid was patient enough to go first and looked so handsome!

Poor Luke though… got half a haircut before he was DONE. Haha! Had to wait until Daddy was home to finish that one up!

My little artist had art camp this week and loved it. It was Madagascar themed and he made a paper mache giraffe mask and a really beautiful lion painting. He definitely gets all his artistic talent from his Daddy and I love seeing his creations.

We left Friday right after art camp to travel to visit Josh’s parents for a party/reception for one of his favorite aunts. They were married last fall in a private ceremony and planned a huge barbecue to celebrate this weekend. A lot of his family came in for the party that we hadn’t seen in too long. Some of them hadn’t even met Reid and Luke!

We got in late on Friday and with all the excitement of seeing everyone, we didn’t get to bed until late! The kids got to meet Josh’s cousin’s kiddos and they were fast friends. 😉 So fun to watch! Josh drew a track on his parents driveway and they ran on it, pushed each other in carts on it, used it as a balance beam… you name it.

His aunt and uncle were so kind to think of the kids and bought a big slip and slide for them to play on during the party. They definitely got their money’s worth out of that one! Even Luke and Reid joined in the fun while the bigger kids were taking a break so they wouldn’t get splashed. Have to play on their own terms. 😉

Speaking of Luke and Reid… apparently we have brand new lovers of rock and roll? Josh’s uncle had an 80’s rock station playing outside and every time one of the twins would walk by it on the way into the house they absolutely had to stop and dance. It was hysterical. They got their whole bodies into it. I couldn’t stop laughing.

We were outside for about 11 hours that day and the kids were completely exhausted. We drove home that night in a peaceful car of sleeping kiddos who we actually had to wake up (for the first time EVER) for Church in the morning.

We spent our Father’s Day relaxing from the weekend and celebrating Josh. I made some of Josh’s favorites for dinner – Shay’s mushroom burgers  and chips and guacamole. And of course some popsicles with Daddy for dessert.

Next week, Caleb has his eye appointment where they check the progress he is making with his patch. He’s been such a trooper with that. Praying for some good news!

Hope you have a good week!


Jun
2017

A week with us

categories: Everyday Life

Hello June! This week brought us the end of the school year for Caleb and apparently the start of a hot Iowa summer!

Last Wednesday was this little dudes last day of kindergarten! I feel like his face has really matured from just the start of the school year and don’t even get me started gushing on how much he has learned. The kindergarten of today is sure not what it was when I was in school!  He has come so far from the scared child at a new school who didn’t know anyone to now being sad school is over and missing his new friends. I am so proud of this dude for working so hard every day! Bring it on first grade!

We had two baseball games this week! Josh was laughing at me because at our game Wednesday evening I wore jeans but was still freezing and complaining of being cold. At our Saturday game, it was 92 degrees and we were roasting and I was complaining of being too hot. I mean if that isn’t the best description of Iowa weather….. I don’t know what is. When we got in the car after his game on Saturday, Caleb told me that he felt like he was on fire. I get that buddy.

 

This is Caleb’s first time playing baseball (t-ball) and he’s loving it.  We’ve known for awhile that the kid has quite an arm on him so we were excited for this year to come when he was old enough to play. We are about a month into the season and it’s amazing how much he has improved.

 

I have to say though (and I mean this with a great deal of love), if you are looking for something to cheer you up and give you a little chuckle, t-ball games are the best. There are a lot of rules in baseball that are hard to teach at that age and you can tell these sweet boys and girls sure play their little hearts out.

Caleb also had a trip to the eye doctor this week. I don’t think I’ve mentioned before that we have been patching one of his eyes since around Christmastime to try to improve vision in his other eye. So far, we have only had to patch 4 hours a day which is the perfect amount of time from school pick-up until bed time. His vision has improved from 20/60 to 20/40 which is I guess when the drivers license restriction lifts. Our doctor decided this week that we should try to make a final push to see if we can get his vision to 20/20 and be done with this whole patching thing. She recommended that he wear his patch all waking hours for a month (28 days actually but who’s counting) and hopefully we will be done. Obviously, convincing a 6 year old to wear a patch over one of his eyes every moment the first month of his summer is not really an easy task. So far this has been challenging for us but today is day 6… and we are doing our very best.This week was apparently full of big things for Caleb!

 

The littler boys and I enjoyed the beautiful weather and Eli’s start to summer while Caleb was finishing his last few days.

 

When it’s 90 degrees plus heat index, you get home from Church and jump in the sprinkler. Church clothes and all. Love these silly boys!

 

Hope you all had a good week too!


May
2017

A week with us

categories: Everyday Life

What a week it has been in our house! I can’t believe that tomorrow is the start of June and the last day of the school year for our kindergartner. We had a great memorial day weekend and loved getting to spend the extra day together. Josh hasn’t had a weekday off work since he started his new job in January so we were thrilled to have some bonus time with him!

Our sweet Eli finished 3 year old preschool on Thursday. He is so sad about the year being over and will really miss his wonderful teachers. This year was his first experience in a school program and we had no idea what to expect. We were SO proud of him and can’t believe how much he has grown up in one year. He has made some wonderful friends and has matured and developed a love for school. He’s already asking when school starts again!

I think I’ve mentioned before how my older boys are really getting into learning about animals so this memorial day we drove to the Henry Villas Zoo in Wisconsin. We haven’t been on a long trip like that without one of our families to help since the twins were born and we had a total blast. Caleb has been obsessed with this animal encyclopedia we got him for Easter and we have all been enjoying reading about different animals that we don’t have at our local zoo. When the boys found out they were going to get to see a rhino, red pandas, a tiger, a polar bear and a grizzly bear they were totally pumped. Obviously the long drive with four kiddos wasn’t the easiest but it was so worth it.

 

They had two grizzly bears that were brothers and those little guys loved to play. They wrestled and ran around with each other and Eli loved watching them. We know a little something about brothers playing in this house. 😉

 

We went back to look at the polar bear three different times and got to see him do something new each time. Right before we left the zoo, we got to see him swimming in his water and even as an adult I thought that was amazing.

 

Briefly considered leaving these 3 crazies in the cage. Ha!

 

If you look closely, you can see the adorable prairie dogs. There were a lot of little babies and we sat and watched them forever. This was for sure Luke and Reid’s favorite exhibit. They kept shrieking and pointing at them and absolutely did not want to leave.

 

One of Caleb’s favorite pages in his encyclopedia is the stingray/mantaray page. We found a river stingray and that just about made his day.

 

The rhino was hands down our favorite to see. The boys looked at this picture and were certain the rhino turned and smiled for the picture.

 

The only thing we didn’t get to see were the tigers who were feeling a little shy that day. Honestly, this zoo was amazing. They have free admission and animals that we had never seen before. Our kiddos are already asking when we can go back.

After the zoo, we headed over to the little beach which was another win.

 

Luke was pretty sure this was the best place EVER. A giant sandbox all for him!

 

We played for awhile at a nearby park and then made the drive home. Luke and Reid were complete troopers. It was hot at the zoo and pretty crowded, so we couldn’t really let them run around like they wanted to which they weren’t big fans of and I can’t really blame them! The loved the beach and the park and held it together pretty well for 20 month-olds running on no naps!

 

Sunday and Monday we spent a little time with family at a graduation and a birthday party and then came home to tackle this mess.

 

See all those purplish braches/bushes? Yeah those are full of giant thorns (and aren’t that pretty). This is right in front of our house and while they provided some nice privacy from the street, I could not handle pulling anymore baseballs out of those thorns or being afraid of my kids falling in them. They HAD to go. Turns out there were 8 bushes under there which was no easy task to cut down and dig up but we are so glad we did. Josh and I are working hard on a bunch of stuff on the front of the house and I’m excited to share when we are finished.

We had a great week- hope you did too!