Back to School - Kindergarten Style!

Rowen and I had a fun day last weekend shopping for her back to school items.  As far as clothes go, the girl has grown like a weed over the past four months!  We tried on the pants she currently owns and found only two that fit her properly.  I was hoping I could get by with just buying a few items to get her through the Fall, but it turned out she needed more than that.  So, we loaded up, my sister and niece in toe, and headed to Target to check out one of my favorite brands, Cat and Jack!  

We jumped on the Cat and Jack bandwagon last year when they replaced their kids' Circo brand with Cat and Jack, and I really like it.  A lot of their stuff has a very positive message to it, which I think is awesome!  I don't think it differs much as far as price goes - maybe a few bucks here and there, but I think the quality and prints are a huge improvement!  

Had the shopping been up to Ro, we'd have picked out a plethora of obnoxious skirts and dresses, but that wasn't going to happen.  I was pretty adamant that whatever we bought would be practical for recess, comfortable, and one size up to make sure it lasts awhile.  We ended up with a few shirts and tanks, a couple of cotton dresses, and some of her favorite leggings (anyone else's kids refuse to wear jeans) --- I think we succeeded!

After Target, we ate lunch and then made our way over to Shoe Carnival for their BOGO (buy one get one) sale.  I knew I wanted her to have a good pair of tennis shoes and also a pair of closed-toed shoes that weren't necessarily so sporty.  She can't yet tie her own shoes so we opted for the velcro Nike's and a cute pair of slip-on Roxy sneakers that I hope will last her until Spring.

We've had her backpack and lunch box for a few weeks now.  We actually bought it for her as a birthday present.  I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on one, until I realized how big they all are on her tiny little body.  Rowen will be riding the bus to and from school so she has to be be able to carry everything by herself.  We had previously tried on a Mackenzie backpack (in size small) from Pottery Barn Kids and I loved the size.  It's big enough for a folder and some other items as well as the matching lunch box that clips to the top of the bag!  It's totally worth the money in my opinion, plus I think the quality will last us a couple of years!  I also bought a water bottle for her to use at lunch.  I love the Thermos brand bottles for kids.  They keep things cold all day and are easy for kids to open by themselves - even my two year old loves them!  

That about does it!  School starts in roughly two weeks for us.  I am ready and so is she, fingers are crossed for a great year!  

A Whole Hand Old

I cannot believe Rowen turned FIVE years old last week...a whole hand old, just crazy!  Now that she's older, its fun to interview her each year on her birthday. Check it out...

How old are you:  Five 

What grade are you in: Kindergarten (hands go in the air)!

Favorite Color:  Purple & Pink

What is your favorite animal: dog

What is your favorite Book: Amelia Badelia 

Favorite TV show: Team Umizoomi

Favorite movie: Moana (shocker)

Where do you want to go on vacation: to see the beach

What is your favorite drink: water

What is your favorite breakfast food: French Toast Sticks or egg sandwich or pancakes

What is your favorite food:  Ham and Cheese sandwich

Where is your favorite place to go: The Buffalo Restaurant (aka Buffalo Wild Wings)

Favorite snack: Fruit snacks

Favorite outfit: dress or Moana shirt

What do you like to take to bed with you at night: Froggy

What's your favorite game: Moana necklace game

Favorite toy:  ipad (mom cringes)

Who is your best friend: Aubrey

What is your favorite thing to do inside: watch tv and play with my brother

Favorite thing to do outside: wiggle car or swim or play with corbin and carver, lol

Favorite holiday: Christmas

What do you want to be when you grow up: Singer

We celebrated her actual birthday (Thursday) at home with gifts and donuts.  Then, spent all day Sunday afternoon with her friends at an adorable art studio in Grimes for a painting party, and ended the day celebrating with family at our house!

Rowen definitely has some big changes coming her way in a few weeks when kindergarten starts, but I know she's gonna do wonderful!  Happy Birthday, baby girl, we love you!

WYATT TURNS 2

Well, back in MAY (still catching up), we had Wyatt's second birthday!  I cannot believe my little dude is now two!

When I was pregnant with Wyatt, everyone used to tell me, "oh boys are so different than girls", and I never believed them.  Well, they were right!  Wyatt is a tough cookie sometimes.  He's very stubborn and wants what he wants when he wants it, but at the same time he can also be sweet and unbelievably charming.  He also loves attention and makes us laugh multiple times a day.  I love the little guy so much!

Age:  24 Months

Stats: 22 pounds and short - I don't remember exact numbers, but he's small for his age.

Teeth:  I know he doesn't yet have them all.  He actually sees the dentist for the second time next week!

Clothes:  Barely in 24 months.  2T still seems too big although I don't understand the difference?

Favorite Foods:  Eating is a nightmare with Wyatt.  Rowen ate anything and everything.  Wyatt just wants to snack.  Fair warning, hardly any of his diet is healthy, but right now we are just working on getting him to eat something!  So far his favorites include...

• Mac N Cheese
• Crackers of any kind
• Corn dogs
• Spaghetti O's
• PB&J's
• My protein bars (ha)
• Noodles with Butter
• Oranges and occasionally a banana
• Frozen French Toast sticks

Milestones:

• Can count to 15
• Putting together 3-4 word sentences
• Can name every character in the TV show blaze, but cannot yet identify all of his colors, ha.
• Can sing about half of the ABC's
• Brushes his teeth (with our help)
• Becoming very independant - shuts the doors, wants to put on his own shoes, turn off the lights, etc.

Favorite Things:

• Trucks - can name all types of trucks if he's shown a picture.
• His push lawn mower
• Anything Lightening McQueen
• His "scooter"
• Nick Jr's. Blaze and the Monster Machines
• The bounce house
• His truck pajamas

Least Favorite Things:

• Sharing
• Most foods 

Sleep:

• 10-12 hours each night.  Sleeps in his crib, thinking toddler bed this winter
• Takes one afternoon nap (2 hours)

Recent Pictures:

Five on Friday

Yay, it's Friday!  To jump start the weekend I thought I'd link up with April for a Five on Friday post!

ONE:
We don't have too many plans this weekend, but our one big plan is to watch Rowen's first ever dance recital! We had rehearsal last night and it went well, but I am already stressed about it.  Rowen will dance twice; once for ballet and once for tap, but luckily there aren't any costume changes involved. Fingers crossed everything runs smoothly again tomorrow!

TWO:  
We recently had some landscaping done to the front of our house and I have been obsessing over plants on Pinterest ever sense!  I don't think we'll plant anything until Fall, but I am for sure getting my research done!  I am very pleased with the way the rock and edging turned out!

THREE:
Lately, meal planning in my house has been anything but.  One of my main reasons for getting back on the blog was to hold myself more accountable when it comes to meal prep!  I plan to begin sharing recipes again soon.  If anyone has anything good please send it my way!

FOUR:
I'm loving his beer lately.  Normally, I am not a big beer drinker, but I was introduced to this over the winter and I'm definitely a fan!  I plan to have one this weekend, for sure!

FIVE:  
Speaking of beverages.  I currently have a horrible obsession with Starbucks.  I literally buy a $4.40 skinny mocha everyday and I am trying desperately to ween myself.  My sister told me about this iced coffee, which I have been drinking the past few mornings.  So far this week I have been two days (out of five) Starbucks free, which is quite the accomplishment for me!  Just hoping I can keep it up!

Hope everyone has a great Father's Day weekend!

Summer 2017 Favorites

Our summer months this year look a bit different than in year's past.  Reason being, we decided to hire a nanny!  Normally, both kids spend their summers with their daycare providers.  However, to give Rowen a fun summer before kindergarten, and to lessen the burden of having two kids at two separate daycare facilities, it was the best choice! So far it’s gone very well, and the kids are having a blast!

When we were packing to move last summer I ended up donating a lot of toys we weren’t using.  Included in the donation box was a lot of their summer toys, pool noodles, water guns, etc.  By that point we’d had them for a number of years and they were starting to get gross so I just decided to do away with them to help lessen the load for the move.  Well, fast forward another summer and I realized I needed new stuff to keep the kids entertained!  So today I thought it would be fun to share some of our favorite summer items (links for everything in descriptions below)...

1. Intex Wishing Well Pool -  I initially bought this pool because I liked the idea of having two pools in one.  I liked the fact that Wyatt could easily play in the middle portion and Rowen could swim in circles around the outer ring. So far both kids love the outer area the most!  Wyatt loves to put his cars and trucks in the pool and drive them along the edge!  It's the perfect pool for toddlers because they can easily step in and out without assistance.

2. Aruba Mesh Beach Tote Bag -  We use this as our pool toy bag.  It's a cooler/bag combo!  The top 3/4 features a mesh bag (perfect for wet toys) and the bottom 1/4 is an insulated cooler. Whenever the kids visit the pool or splash pad they want to take along toys and it's usually pushing lunch time or dinner time when we are there so this is the perfect solution!

3. WooHoo Toys Big Children Playhouse Pop-Up Play Tent -  My oldest loves to play pretend so I thought this would be fun. Some of the other fold-able tents I found weren't very big, but this one is huge - you can easily fit multiple kids inside!  Unlike other play tents, it doesn't require poles, it simply pops up and folds back down for easy storage.  Bonus is that it comes with stakes so that we can take it outside as well!

4. Splash Balls -  An obvious necessity when it comes to summertime and the occasional water fight with dad! :)

5. Sportspower My 1st Waterslide - We've only put this up a handful of times this summer, but it's a lot of fun, my neighbor kids love it, too!  Much like a bounce house it uses a blower and inflates within minutes.  So far the quality seems to be great!

6. Dew Drop Ocean Beads Ocean Animals Adventure Kit - These water beads are a total hit with my kids!  They're cheap and great for sensory play.  I keep them in a plastic tote out on our deck, under the umbrella and send the kids out to play daily.  This particular pack of beads comes with small ocean animals to play with.  I love to play with these too, there's something very relaxing about them! I bought these Squeezy Tweezers, which are great for little hands, too!

7. Wiggle Car by Lil' Rider - This is by far my daughter's favorite thing to play with outside when we are not in the pool.  The speed she has when she's on this thing is crazy - they are low to the ground, very easy to ride, and come in a bunch of different colors. I highly recommend it for younger kids!

Well, hello there, Stranger!

It's been awhile...a year and four months to be exact!  Reason for my blogging hiatus was simply the amount of effort (which was very little) I was willing to put in. For those of you that don't blog you may not understand, but blogging is a lot of work.  However,  I can't even tell you the number of times in the past year I've referred back to my blog to look at pictures, to recall the baby stages of both kids, or to find a recipe!  It's so nice to have things documented, which is my main reason for getting back at it.  I hope you'll continue to follow along!

Last I left you I had a three year old and a six month old and life was hard.  However, now that the kids are older life is a bit easier (sometimes) and I thought it would be beneficial to give a brief update.

The Kids:

Wyatt just turned two years old!  It's crazy to think the last time I blogged about him he was only six months old!  His favorite things in life are his lawn mower, his cars, and macaroni and cheese.  He challenges us on a daily basis, but he's an awesome little dude and we couldn't imagine life without him!

Rowen will be turning five (insert cry face here) at the end of July!  She recently finished her last year of preschool and is headed to kindergarten in the fall!  She is very excited to ride the bus and we are thrilled to have one less kid in daycare!   This past year we enrolled her in a dance class and she loves it.  I never pictured myself as a dance mom (more like a soccer mom), but i'm learning, and I'm happy she's found something she seems to love!

The House:  

Life is funny sometimes.  So funny that you decide, on a whim, to up and sell your house so that you can build another one right up the street.  Yes, it sounds crazy, but that's exactly what we did. We were faced with some decisions to make when it came to our previous house.  Decisions that meant either pouring a bunch of money into a basement so we had room to grow, or sell and find something we could call home for the next 20 years.  The market was good so we chose to sell and we couldn't be happier with where we are now!

Ryan and I:  

Not a ton has changed for us in the past year, I'm still working full time, so is Ryan.  Long story short, we are just trying to enjoy life as it comes.  I wont lie, it's challenging at times, but life would be boring if it wasn't, right?  Stay tuned...