What's Up Wednesday?

I saw this on another blog this morning and thought it would be fun to participate!

Here are the questions....

Let's do this!!

1.  What we're eating this week: This will is a bit slower in terms of baseball than last week, but we have 2 nights of social events (on schoolnights-GASP!) so some nights have been grab and go or leftovers.  But on Sunday, I made my favorite Simply Lasagna on Sunday, and we will most likely eat the remainder of the leftovers tonight.  Tomorrow night will be tacos, and Friday will be grab and go due to baseball.  If the weather cooperates on Saturday, we'll most likely do burgers or chicken on the grill! 

2. What I'm reminiscing about: I'm reminiscing about this little guy, who turns FOUR next month!!  Hard to believe, right??

3.  What I'm loving: I've been loving the enthusiasm of both the boys AND Brian over their latest project...they are going to build a treehouse this summer :)  It's been Brian's dream since childhood to have a treehouse, so he's making it happen.  They've been working on collecting scrap wood and other materials from various places that have been giving it away to him, and drawing up floorplans and sharing ideas of what they want inside the treehouse.  It's so cute to watch them all brainstorm together, even Liam, as they talk about what they want and Jake takes notes and draws out what he thinks it will look like.  I can't wait for the finished product! 

4.  What we've been up to:  If we're not at work or baseball, we've mostly been trying to get the outside ready for spring/summer by clearing out the remainder of leaves that were left from fall, putting the cushions back out on the patio furniture, weeding....you know, all the fun stuff that goes along with being a homeowner. 

5.  What I'm dreading: I hate to say this, but the one part of summer that I really dislike is the summer camp shuffle....parents, you know what I'm talking about!!  The bathing suits, the field trips, remembering which day they're supposed to pack a particular kind of lunch that can go in a cooler and not be heated up, the insane amounts of laundry that result from it all.  It will be fine...every year, it's fine.  But it's an adjustment.  It's an extra pick up (Jake and Liam don't go to the same place in the summer), it's more to remember and more to haul back and forth every day, but we'll survive.  Doesn't mean I won't whine about it though.  Brian likes to refer to himself as "Mr. Summer Camp Sherpa Man" during these few months.

6.  What I'm working on:  Liam's birthday party next month!  It's going to be his first friend party, and he requested a Paw Patrol theme.  My pinterest board is ready to explode.  Here's a little sneak peek (personal info removed):

7: What I'm excited about: Vacations!!  We actually have two trips coming up over the summer; first up, Brian and I will be taking our very first trip somewhere together without the kids.  I'm excited and feel like I'm going to throw up over the idea, all at the same time.  We've both left the kids separately, but never at the same time.  I'm sure they will have a ball with Nana and PopPop and probably won't even notice we're gone!  Our family vacation this year is to Flathead Lake, Montana...full disclosure, this is totally not a vacation I would have ever suggested on my own.  But Brian's sister's in-laws have very generously offered to let us come and stay the week in their beautiful lakehouse and now that we're all set to to, I'm excited because it will be something I normally wouldn't get to experience, and I know the boys are going to have a blast.  I'm looking forward to getting in some serious relaxation and reading! And maybe dipping a toe in the lake, I've heard it's beautiful but cold!! 

8.  What I'm watching/reading:  Ironically, I posted this morning about what I'm reading (The Girl on the Train) before I even saw this post.  I'm watching my usual TV shows....The Voice (kinda-sorta...I'm not that into it this year, so I'm usually doing other stuff while half watching and I almost always fall asleep in the middle of it), The Real Housewives of NY (welcome back, Bethenny!), Modern Family, New Girl, Grey's Anatomy (*sniff, sniff*) and Scandal.  Counting down the days until the Bachelorette and So You Think You Can Dance start back up!

9.  What I'm listening to: Right at this exact moment, nothing (I'm at work).  But at home and in the car, we are still on a big Taylor Swift and "Uptown Funk" kick.  :)  I realized that I don't think I ever posted this pretty entertaining video of our trip to visit Melissa & Dennis a few weeks ago....here are the boys, showing off their sweet moves:

Uptown funk you up, indeed.

10: What I'm wearing: Not PJs, go me!! :)  a standard work outfit:

11.  What I'm doing this weekend: Friday night baseball game for Jake, Saturday morning practice for Jake and game for Liam.  In the afternoon, our BFFs gave us their tickets to the Steelers Fan Blitz at Heinz Field, so we plan on going there!  Church on Sunday morning, no plans other than that!!

12.  What I'm looking forward to next month: Lots of stuff!  Liam's birthday, continuing to watch the boys play baseball, planting flowers, Mother's Day....so much to look forward to!! 

13.  What else is new: I think I talked about nearly anything there is to talk about!! My school where I work had graduation last week so things are slowing down here, and Jake's school year is winding down, too.  Summer will be here before we know it! 

Free printable found here

What I'm Reading Wednesday

If you haven't read this book yet, do yourself a favor and GO READ IT NOW!!  I'm about 3/4 of the way through, and I'm counting down the minutes until my lunch break when I can shut my door and read some more.

What are you currently reading? 

Weekend Recap

While the weather wasn't the best we've had (we went from nearly 80 degrees last weekend, to 30-something degrees this past weekend...say what?), we still enjoyed ourselves.  Baseball started back up for Jake a few weeks ago, and Friday night was his first game.  Where I was sitting was not really conducive to getting pictures, so I only snapped a few, *sadface*

Saturday morning, both boys were scheduled to have games but Liam's was cancelled due to the cold temps, so we were all able to go to Jake's.  He moved up a league this year (7-8 year olds) and it's the first year that they do both outs and strikes, so it's definitely an adjustment, but he had a few good hits and kept his chin up when he did strike out, so we were super proud! 

Everyone was pretty wiped on Saturday afternoon, and we had plans that evening with some friends, so I told Jake he needed to take it easy for awhile while Liam napped and I got some stuff done around the house.  My little book-loving heart skipped a beat when he said, "Ok, I think I'll read my new book for awhile" and picked up the Magic Treehouse book he'd checked out of the school library.  He's been independently reading for awhile, and he will do it on occasion, but it's usually something more that I have to suggest he do....it's been amazing to see his reading progress over the past few months.

Gracie doesn't have to be told twice to get some rest:

After another late night at a friend's house on Saturday, the boys both slept in on Sunday, woohoo!  Once we all got up and got moving, we headed to church....both boys were looking particularly handsome, so we paused in the driveway to snap some pics before heading out:

 

I can't look at this shot without laughing, it's like he's auditioning for the next "Zoolander"!!

 After church, the boys played outside until lunch while I ran to the grocery store.  Their differences crack me up sometimes; if Jake isn't already wearing "comfy clothes" (aka-athletic pants or shorts and a tshirt) he immediately wants to change his clothes (I'm actually shocked that he left on his church clothes this week, at least until they went inside), while Liam is the total opposite...once he's dressed for the day, that's it!  He's in those clothes, even if they are dress pants and a button down shirt...while riding a power wheels.

 

some signs of spring at our house!

After naptime, we headed to a park near our house that has a trail with a waterfall...the highlight for the boys, as always, was launching rocks into the stream. (we finally talked Liam into getting out of his church clothes for this adventure!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you had a good weekend, too!!

"Don't forget to touch the bases!"

After being a spectator for nearly 4 years and sitting through countless baseball games and practices for Jake, it was finally Liam's turn to be ON the field!

Practicing with Jake before getting started....

 As if it wasn't cute enough that he was strutting around in this little uniform, he took the cute factor way over the top when he decided to take some instructions quite literally.  They were practicing running the bases, and the coach reminded them to make sure they touch each base as they pass....Liam took that to mean touch with his hand.  Cue the cuteness overload!!

He did a great job and had a lot of fun, and is already asking when his next game will be, so I think it was a success. 

 

 

 

Here is a video of his first hit in the first game of his baseball career :)

Be fierce, be wild, be passionate...be yourself.

I wrote and published the post the other day about me losing my mind over the boys fighting and nonstop need to be physical with each other the other day, and then literally, within 5 minutes, read this quote on another blog:

image courtesy of thegreatread.blogspot.com

And it really made me stop and think.  It doesn't necessarily apply to their name calling and silly fighting over who gets what cup (because I can still sit around and complain all day about that), but it does apply to other areas where I have trouble understanding them.  Just to be completely honest, I don't get the need to ALWAYS BE ON THE MOVE. I don't understand why they want to climb on things.  I don't understand the need to run around in circles.

But I think sometimes I need to do a better job of understanding that just because I don't understand it, doesn't mean it's wrong.  And sometimes it's hard to do that.  And if we can't demonstrate to the kids how to respect people who do things differently, how can we expect them to learn that?  I think of Brian and I....we each have different ways that we choose to de-stress or spend time with friends.  He doesn't really "get" my love for book club or black Friday shopping, while I don't really "get" his love of going fishing or how running for 30 minutes is a stress reliever for him.  But we respect that for the other person; that is how we recharge our batteries, or how to connect with friends and family. Just because we have different ways of doing it, doesn't mean that the other person is wrong.

I think sometimes we (Brian and I) get so caught up in wanting to "raise them right" that we overlook appreciating them for who they already are.  We shouldn't want to change them, we should want to help them become the best versions of themselves that they can be.

And when I stop my mind from immediately thinking of how messy bath time is going to be that night, or how I'm going to have to thoroughly check for ticks, or wipe up the floors after they traipse through the house with dirt falling off of them....when I stop thinking about all of those negatives, I have time instead to think about the positives.  My kids want to be outside running around like crazy instead of parked in front of a video game....my kids want to share with me everything that they have discovered in the dirt....my kids want to use their imaginations to build a huge fort that is the secret hideout of all the superheroes.  Maybe the activities they're doing aren't exactly what I would choose to do, but the bottom line is, they ARE doing exactly what I want them to do...they are being active, they are sharing their lives with me, and they are using their imaginations.

I wrote last week in my recap post about how the boys wanted to "go exploring" in the woods behind our house.  Brian was cleaning up the yard, so my first instinct was to say no or tell them they had to wait until daddy was done so he could take them.  Then I caught myself; why can't I take them??  It's not like we were going to be hiking for miles and miles, they literally just wanted to wander 15 feet away from our backyard and explore the trees.

I'm so glad I did.  Because if I hadn't, I wouldn't have heard Liam's giggles every time the leaves crunched under his boots.  I wouldn't have heard the pride in Jake's voice when he said "Mommy, look at me, I did it!" after climbing a tree by himself.  I wouldn't have watched them both use a fallen tree as a balance beam, then jump off the end and high five each other that they made it across.  I wouldn't have heard them talking and giggling with each other about how they were the "lost boys" from Peter Pan, and how they might have to figure out where to build a shelter that night if they couldn't figure out how to get out of the woods and back home.

Would I normally suggest that we go walking through the woods where it's a hotbed for ticks, climb trees where we could potentially break an arm, or try to build a fort with sticks?  Nope.  But I'm so glad I didn't turn down the offer to join them.  I have a lot to learn from these boys.

Be fierce, be wild, be passionate.

Easter Recap!

Yeah, yeah, yeah...it's 2 weeks later.  I know.  But we did have a nice Easter!  I saw this image on pinterest and it made me giggle:

image courtesy of tatertotsandjello.com

Liam's school was doing their Easter lunch the Wednesday before, so being Liam, he picked out some fancy clothes for himself:

The hat.  The bow tie.  The hands in the pocket.  I love it all!!

Easter weekend, we went to my parents house and the boys got outside for a bit to practice baseball with Brian and Pappy:

 

 

 

Nana and PopPop had sent some gifts for the boys, and Liam was excited to do some painting....please note Gracie, the art connoisseur, overlooking his work:

"The use of your blended colors is just exquisite" ~Gracie

The next morning, the kids were thrilled to discover that the Easter bunny had made an appearance overnight to hide some eggs and baskets.

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of the day was spent passing the time until DINNER!  The boys played with their new stuff, Liam built puzzles, and Jake built some Legos.  Unfortunately, I took zero pictures of dinner or anything after, but it was delicious! 

 

 

 

We hope you had a great Easter, too!!