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

Thankful.

I'm thankful for many things this year, as always.....for family, friends, good health, a roof over our heads, and food on the table.  I'm also thankful for a patient husband, who, when I showed him the project that I had put together that's pictured above, gently suggested that perhaps taping it to the mantle was not the best option.  Same patient husband also managed to be very calm when wife totally ignored his suggestion and, within minutes of snapping that picture, heard the whole thing came crashing down, pulling off some paint with it. 

Oops.  Anyway, if you're interested in the banner, here is the link to the original free printable file, found at http://www.shanty-2-chic.com  It looked good while it lasted!!

Disney Countdowns for the kiddos

 As you know, I've been enjoying planning all things related to our trip to Disney World.  I've found a few cute countdown ideas to start doing with the kids, and figured I'd share on here.  All countdowns found on (where else?) pinterest.

This free printable ,courtesy of the Designs by Nicolina blog:

Individual countdown cards found here.

Another calendar idea from the Capturing the Magic blog:

And this adorable (but let's be honest, probably more work than I'm willing to do) countdown paper chain from the Grey Luster Girl blog:

Does your family do any fun countdowns to get excited about holidays or vacations? Share them in the comments!

The Road to Kindergarten: Part 2

When we last left off, I was feeling a teensy bit better about this whole kindergarten thing, having gone through parents orientation AND Jake's orientation.  Jake seemed to be feeling better, too; prior to that, he was nervous, and had a million questions (who will I sit with at lunch?  how will I find my desk?  What if I can't find my way around the school?  When will I get to go to gym class?)

The big day rolled around, and we all felt confident and ready.  Jake was looking devastatingly handsome (if I do say so myself) in his outfit that I painstakingly selected.  He had his backpack ready and stocked with supplies (in a surprising turn of events, he didn't want a new backpack and kept his superhero one that he had carried to preschool) and his lunch was packed in his awesome new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle lunchbox.  (WHEN WILL I EVER BE ABLE TO STOP PACKING LUNCHES?!?) Everything seemed to be going well, we were right on schedule....time to take the mandatory back to school pictures!!  *cue the hysterical crying here*

Yep, he went from calm, cool, and collected to hysterical, just like that.  I don't know if the reality sunk in for him or what, but whatever it was, he was not a happy camper.  He was sobbing that he didn't want to go, he would miss me, he wanted to go back to preschool, he missed his friends....ugh!  as if this morning wasn't hard enough for me as it was, I was barely holding it together before he started crying.  Somehow, I managed to keep from crying myself and telling him I'd just homeschool him.  What ended up saving the day was a water bottle, of all things.  I had bought him a new Superman water bottle to take in his lunch box and had forgotten to show it to him; I remembered this, told him I had a surprise and busted it out for him.  Sobs turned to sniffles within seconds....crisis averted.  Picture time!!!

That adorable first day of kindergarten sign can be found here.  (thank you, pinterest!)



We got through the trauma of getting Jake's meltdown only to face another meltdown: Liam!!  As I suspected, Liam had a terrible time with his brother's departure.  Liam is completely obsessed with Jake, and at daycare they would often tell me how excited Liam would be to spot Jake during the day, or how much they loved it if they were doing a whole-center activity and got to play together.  I knew it wasn't going to be easy on the little guy, yet somehow, it was worse than I expected.  He was literally sobbing, "No Jakey!  Don't leave me!  Don't go!"  There I was at the bus stop, trying to hold it all together for the sake of everyone, telling my first baby goodbye and trying to keep my second baby from having a nervous breakdown over the whole thing.

Brian then took Liam into daycare; I had the day off and a million errands to run, but I gave myself a time-out at home first.  I cried, looked at some pictures of Jake when he was a baby (that didn't help matters, just for the record), then tried to not fall down the rabbit hole. Letting your kids go is  one of those things as a mother where you start to feel like you're Alice falling down the rabbit hole.  Today it's kindergarten, next it's middle school, then high school, what if he gets a concussion playing sports?,  then they're going to prom and OMG what if his date isn't nice?,  and then college, then they're getting married, and so on and so forth.  Everyone does this right?  Right?

But he was ready for kindergarten.  And he'll be ready for all of that other stuff, too.  But I'm trying to not worry about that right now.  Right now, he is in kindergarten, and he still misses me when he leaves.  Right now, he's in kindergarten and he was the most excited kid in the world when I surprised him with a trip to the ice cream shop after picking him up on his first day.

He's in kindergarten, and he still brings home things like this to me:

He's in kindergarten, and we're so proud of the little boy he's becoming.

Mickey Mouse Money Saver

We are so very close to our Disney World trip!  No surprise here, but Jake has started talking about souvenirs he may want to buy while we're down there.  My mom and dad got both kids a disney gift card for Easter, so that will come in handy for him, but I wanted to take advantage of this moment while talking about spending money to bring up the subject of chores with Jake.  Up until this point, we've had a very loose definition of chores...Jake has been expected to take his dishes to the counter when he's done with them.  Sometimes he remembers, sometimes he doesn't; sometimes we remember to remind him, sometimes we don't.  Same thing with sending his dirty clothes down the laundry chute after his bath.

So, I figured the time had come since he had been talking about wanting to save up his money to spend at Disney World.  I made him a simple chore chart (with pictures so that he could understand what was expected and check on it himself) with these tasks: make his bed when he wakes up, clear his dishes after breakfast and dinner, and put his laundry down the chute after his bath.

I've struggled with this idea of "chores" in the past; Brian and I want to have him do these things, but haven't been sure that we necessarily wanted to give him an allowance for doing them.  They seem like very basic things that should be done without needing money.  But, the more we thought about it, the more we realized that maybe a small allowance was a good idea.  It gives him motivation AND it can start to teach him the value of money and the importance of saving up for things he may really want.  And obviously, the chores won't always have to be this basic; we're hoping that we can keep with these basic ones until they become habit, then as he gets older, add to it (Brian is so excited for the day Jake can help mow the grass) and he will then get paid for those chores instead.

So, back to the point of this post.  He wanted to save up some money for Disney souvenirs and also for the arcade that is in our resort.  I was going to start paying him a small allowance for those chores, and then I came across this great (and super cheap!) idea on pinterest:

Ta-da!  Original pinterest idea found here.  Breakdown of project:

Folgers coffee can: technically free, since that's the coffee we drink anyway.
Yellow paint: free, we had it from a kids art project kit
Foam balls: $2 for a 6 pack at walmart (I'm sure the other 4 will come in handy for some type of planet science project at a later date)
Black spray paint: free, already had it at home leftover from a project from Jake's superhero party

Meeska, Mouska, Happy Birthday!!

If you didn't know this about me already, I love a good theme. That being said, I had no intentions whatsoever of doing any type of theme for Liam's 2nd birthday party.  Seriously, none at all.  It was going to be a small event, just some close family members, so no theme.  And then, it happened.  My little chubby-faced 2 year old looked at me the week before his party and said, "Liam Mickey Mouse party?? like Reagan!"  Apparently, a little girl in his class had a Mickey birthday party.  Liam thought he should have a Mickey party.  You guys. You guys!  You should have seen his little hopeful face!! Then he said it again a few days later!  So, there I was in the party supply aisle of walmart, saying to myself that I'd just pick up some Mickey plates or something.  I was going to, I really was!  Then, they had a bunch of stuff on clearance...including a Mickey Mouse kit.  That's how I ended up with this stuff at the party:

No big deal, just some table toppers, cute window decorations, and a banner!  But, of course, once I start something I have a difficult time stopping.  What did I find myself doing 3 days before his party?  Looking at pinterest for other decor ideas, of course!!  Here's what I ended up with:

Subway art free printable found here on Simply Real Moms site

signs from Peonies and Poppyseeds

Also from Peonies & Poppyseeds--this site had TONS of free printables, for so many different themes! 

cupcake toppers found here on the Catch my Party site

Phew!  I felt much better once I had all of that done :)  And, since we are in Disney prep mode for our upcoming trip, we all happened to own a Mickey Mouse shirt!

It was a great day spent with our families, I'm so glad everyone could join us!  And yes, the theme was worth throwing together at the last minute, Liam seemed to enjoy seeing all of the Mickeys, and showing everyone his shirt. 

Video of singing Happy Birthday: