What's Up Wednesday

I decided that taking part in another "What's Up Wednesday" would be a great way to catch up on all the posting I've fallen behind on in the last month...I love a good shortcut! Here we go!

1.  What we're eating this week....
Nothing worth posting!  We'll have some of the usual...pasta/salad, baked chicken, tacos....last night we ventured out with some friends to Max & Erma's (turns out they have a kids eat free night every Tuesday!) which was delicious.  There were 3 adults and 7 kids, ranging from ages 4-7 and I have to say, the kids were all angels!  It was a nice night out for the 3 mamas.  The kids were so good, we splurged on some fresh baked chocolate chip cookies for everyone. This little tag speaks the truth:

2.  What I'm reminiscing about...
The beach!  As I've mentioned before, we are doing a vacation this year, but we're changing it up and going to a lakehouse in Montana, so no usual beach trip with the besties for us.  I've been thinking back to last year with these water-loving kiddos:

 

 

3. What I'm loving....
How much fun these kiddos have been having at their camps this summer!  Liam has stayed at his regular daycare/preschool, but they switch over to an informal summer camp format for June-August. He's been loving all of the sprinklers and weekly themes, and he's pretty much a hot, sweaty, tired mess when I pick him up everyday.

Jake goes to camp at our church, and it's an awesome program that has swimming twice per week and a field trip each week.  So far this summer, they've gone to the movies, a hiking trail, the science center, a Just Ducky tour, and the aviary!  He's there with a few of his friends from preschool days and his baseball team, so he's having a blast.  They do a "star camper" award each week for a kid who demonstrates the values they talk about at camp (mostly respecting the rules of camp and being kind to other campers and counselors)...Jake won the award earlier this month!

4.  What we've been up to...
The usual summer stuff, really! Riding bikes, the boys have been in the treehouse a lot, playing with neighbors, going swimming....now that it's not raining 6 out of 7 days a week, we've been out a lot more! This past weekend was busy, I went to a baby shower for a family friend (where I got to hog my nephew, Luke, again!)

 

And on Sunday, the boys had been invited to a birthday party at a friend's house with a pool....these two didn't get out of the pool for a solid 3.5 hours.  I take that back, Liam got out to have a piece of cake (of course) but that's it!  They were WIPED that night.

 

5.  What I'm dreading....
Right in this exact moment, I'm dreading 11:30am today, when I have to go to the dermatologist for my yearly check up.  I know it's a necessary evil, and after having a number of suspicious spots removed in recent years,  I will preach to anyone who will listen that they should go get skin checks...but that doesn't mean it's a fun thing!  But, it will be over with by the end of the day, and hopefully I'll be off the hook for another year.

Consider this your friendly PSA that if you haven't had your skin checked this year, call now to make your appointment!! 

6.  What I'm working on....
Vacation 2016.  I haven't really been working on it as much as just contemplating options.  I know, we haven't even taken our vacation this year!  But of course, I'm already thinking of next year....we've been tossing some ideas around....back to the beach as we usually do?  Disney cruise?  Disney world again? There's so much we want to do and see, and we feel like the kids are only little once so we want to do the fun kid things with them while they're young enough to appreciate it...if only we had unlimited money and vacation time!  


7.  What I'm excited about....
Booties!!  No, no, get your mind out of the gutter.  Not that.  I'm talking these kind of booties:

BP. 'Trott" - Nordstrom 

Ivanka Trump "Taren" - Nordstrom

I've been eying up those two from Nordstrom (thanks, Pinterest Told Me To!), but I hope to be able to hit Marshalls before fully committing to buying the boots at full price.  Any other cute shoe suggestions?  Preference between the two I posted?  Leave them in the comments!

8. What I'm watching/reading...
I'm just finishing up What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty (love it!) and up next is Beautiful Day by Elin Hilderbrand.

 

We've been watching Big Brother, So You Think You Can Dance, and of course, I just finished watching The Bachelorette! (and definitely looking forward to the trainwreck that is Bachelor in Paradise)

9. What I'm listening to....
I've been throwing it back when I turn on Spotify and listening to Dave Matthews and Counting Crows a lot (or the 90's hip hop/rap station if the kids aren't around...shhh don't tell them!)

10. What I'm wearing....
Over the past week, anything that keeps me cool!  It has been HOT here, into the 90s nearly everyday.  The flip side to this horrendous outside temperature is that while the number on the thermometer continues to climb outside, the thermostat temp in my office continues to drop.  So, basically this....

11. What I'm looking forward to next month....
VACATION!!!! :)  I'm sure that I will find myself saying something along these lines when we get back, but we are really looking forward to going!

12. What else is new...
We made an effort this summer to continue going to church whenever we can, even though there's no Sunday School.  They do offer a children's church program during the regular service so we've been able to go a few times over the past 2 months or so.  We'll register the kids for Sunday School again in the fall....Liam loves going and gets excited every Sunday....Jake seems to dislike it slightly less at this point :)  I think his main complaint is that they all sing songs for the first 10 minutes or so, and he REALLY dislikes that portion of it. Oh, and the fact that I won't let him wear athletic shorts or sweatpants. Mean mommy!

sun in their eyes, but looking handsome (and coordinated) on our way to church last sunday!

 13.  What I'll miss most about summer...
Not going to lie here, I love a lot of stuff about summer and I'll miss it for sure, but what I'll miss most is the lack of nightly homework!!  There is something to be said for simply coming home from work and getting to hang out with the kids, instead of having to factor in homework time :(  But, we'll get into the groove eventually....

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy (day late) Mother's Day!  We had a really nice weekend that started on Friday with some celebrations at both schools.  Here are the boys on their way to school that morning, all dressed up and ready for the occasion!  Jake even volunteered to wear nice clothes...I nearly passed out, this from the boy who argues about wanting to wear sweatpants to church.

 

I may be biased, but I think they are both devastatingly handsome.

First stop was Jake's school, where they had made us some adorable crafts and a book...the book was awesome, and I can't imagine how much time went into it (from both Jake and his teacher!):

Placemat for our meal at the mother's day celebration

decorated gift bag

 

 

 

 

It's hard to read, but the picture is of Jake at our table and he's saying "yay, strawberries!" :)

Fun fact: I haven't been on a bike in probably 15 years.

 

translation: Let's me play her phone. 

 

 

 

 

After we had a chance to look at the gifts, the kids got up and recited a few songs and poems...it was the sweetest thing ever, it made me tear up!!  I tried to control it in an effort to not embarrass Jake.

Video:

We also did a little quiz; Jake's teacher had asked them questions about their mom earlier in the week...we had to try and guess what they said without looking at their answers:

The questions aren't on there, but as you can see we got a few matches :)  My personal favorite is question number 8; the question was "what does your mom do all day while you're at school?"  Jake knows that I work, so I thought this one was going to be a sure thing to get right....Jake's answer was "thinks about me".  Just about the cutest (and most amusing) parts of my day that day.

Next stop, Liam's preschool!  We were greeted in the classroom with a little song for the mamas:

After that, they had different stations...games, crafts, books, and cupcakes!

 

 

 

 

And he was proud to give me the gift they made in class:

On Sunday, the boys gave me the best gift of all by sleeping in until 7:45!  This is something occurs, um, let's see here...NEVER.  So, thanks boys!! :)

I received some cute cards, pretty flowers, delicious Reeses Cups, and this shirt that sums my life up perfectly:

The boys and I headed down to my parents' house mid-morning (Brian stayed behind for a good reason...post about that to follow!)

My mom got me this beautiful "daughter" Alex & Ani bracelet to add to my collection:

It was HOT, but we did get the boys outside to test out the new lacrosse sticks that GG had forgotten to give to them for Easter :)

 

 

After that, it was time for the highlight of the day....taking the boys to Sarris for ice cream for the very first time!!  If you're from the Pittsburgh area, you know that Sarris is kind of an iconic thing around here.  They have an adorable old-fashioned ice cream parlor (and chocolate factory, too!) and I was excited to introduce the boys.  I think they enjoyed it :)

I'm pretty sure Liam is sizing up Jake's portion and trying to figure out if he can mooch any! Look at those eyes!

 

 

 

This one has to be my absolute favorite picture of the whole weekend....I asked both boys to give GG a kiss on the cheek, and instead Liam said, "How about Jake gives her a kiss on the cheek and I'll be the shark in the picture?"

Doesn't every picture need a shark?? :)

Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms, moms-to-be, and hopeful moms out there.  And a huge thank you to both of the moms in our life, whose endless love and support are more appreciated than we can ever put into words...thank you, GG and Nana!!!