What's Up Wednesday: July 2016

I have so many posts bouncing around in my brain - including grandparent birthday celebrations and our trip to Jamaica, but I thought it would be fun to link up and do a fun, easy post first!  So here's What's Up today!  I am supposed to talk about the following....

What We Are Eating This Week...

I made Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sliders tonight and they were delicious!

What I'm Reminiscing About...

Absolutely reminiscing about our trip to Jamaica.  I will do a separate post on what all we did, but it was absolutely amazing!  It was just the two of us - so nice to have time away from the kids!  And I know they had a fun time with grandparents.  We went to Couples Negril and can't wait to go back!

What I'm Loving...

I am loving having time with my kiddos this summer.  They certainly frustrate me and sometimes make me want to run for the hills, but I try to cherish the good and the bad.  I know they are all growing up so quickly and I don't want to miss anything from each age and stage!

What We've Been Up To...

Katie is packing in all the sleepovers she can before school starts.  Here she is at the splash pad with Grandma this morning!

The boys have been running around the house like hooligans.  Jack was quite meticulous with his cardboard block tower today - he actually said it was Daddy's office!

We try to make it to the pool on the weekends.  Here are the kids at the pool this past weekend with friends!  They had a blast (and it wore them out)!

Last Friday night, Jack and I had a date night!  It was so fun - Newks, Home Depot for him to sit on all the lawnmowers, Walgreens for snacks, and we went to see The Secret Life of Pets!

I'm also getting back into my workout routine after our trip!  It was so great to take almost a week off, but it is even better to get back into it!

What I'm Dreading...

Setting alarms and making lunches once school starts back!  Getting up and ready and to the bus by 8:05 will be an adjustment for sure!  No easy, jammie wearing mornings filled with cartoons during the week anymore!

What I'm Working On...

I'm trying to get geared up to start hanging all the clothes my kids have outgrown and get them ready for consignment.  Such a daunting task!

What I'm Excited About...

I can't wait for the movie Bad Moms to come out to get a girl night and head to see it!  It looks hilarious!  Brad and I also just got tickets to see Counting Crows and Rob Thomas at the end of September...can't wait for that!  And the new fall release for Matilda Jane is next week!  Mark your calendar for my show in October - ha!

What I'm Watching/Reading...

I'm watching The Bachelorette and cannot wait for Bachelor in Paradise!  Good, quality television, right? And while we were gone I read Me Before You by Jojo Moyes - SO GOOD.  And while on Amazon, I found that there is a sequel.  I bought it immediately and just started it last night.  So I am currently reading After You by Jojo Moyes....and I have lots to read afterwards!

What I'm Listening To...

Whatever is on the radio!  I do still love Justin Timberlake's song.  And here are some other songs that I did a screenshot of to remind me to get!

What I'm Wearing...

I actually got a shower this afternoon so I didn't have to stay nasty and sweaty from my workout.  But I still look like I am headed to the gym! Ha!

Here is another picture from Jamaica to show that I can actually wear real clothes!

What I'm Doing This Weekend...

This weekend...Hm.  I don't know that we have definite plans.  We have to go sometime Saturday for uniform fittings for Katie's cheerleading - she's hanging up the soccer cleats and wanted to try cheerleading this fall!  Should be exciting!  And then maybe head to the pool at some point?  And likely church on Sunday - it will be the last Sunday all the kids are in the Sunday School classes they are used to!  This was walking into church this past weekend - I try to take a pic like this every Sunday.  It's so fun to see how the kids change!

What I'm Looking Forward To Next Month...

I am looking forward to Katie starting school - I will miss her for sure!  But I know she loves seeing her friends.  And we just found out yesterday who her teacher will be - as she learns about more friends being in her class, she gets more excited.  I am excited to see how she grows and learns this year in second grade!  She starts next Friday - I can't believe it is that time again!  Another thing that starts next month is FOOTBALL SEASON!  Not sure what kind of year Auburn will have, but I am excited to watch games with friends and wear new cute clothes in my team colors - ha!

What Else Is New...

I started a star chart for Jack yesterday and so far so good!  He gets pretty crazy at times, so I thought positive praise and visualizing would be helpful.  Yesterday and today went really well and he is excited! Anytime he started to stray from what he was supposed to be doing, I would remind him of the sticker waiting on him and he would bring it back around and do what was asked!  I sure hope it continues and he stays as excited!  Now I just need to figure out what the prize will be for good, appropriate behavior!

I also am working on cycling all the 2T stuff out and bringing the 3T stuff in for Ryan.  How is that possible?!  Looks like he is on the Katie growth chart - ah!  So here he is wearing a 3/4 shirt with 3T shorts!  Unreal that they fit him so well!

So that's what's up!  Check back for more coming soon!

Happy 4th of July!

I think I may need to retitle my blog "Better Late Than Never"...because that is apparently how I roll these days.  Oh well!  I don't even know if anyone still reads it (ha!), but I love having a place to write and document our lives!

So here we go with our fun 4th of July!  It was really celebrated over the course of a few days - fireworks with neighbors on the 3rd, pool and grilling on the 4th, and rescheduled fireworks on the 5th!

On the evening of the 3rd, the big kids played with the neighbors while it got dark enough for fireworks.  Ryan went down to sleep at his normal time.  Then, once it was dark, we did fireworks with all the neighbors.  It was so fun!  And the dads had fun blowing stuff up!

On the morning of the 4th, we went to the pool in our neighborhood!  It was so fun to hang out together - and we also saw lots of friends while we were there!  It was a beautiful morning!

A little glimpse at some of my patriotic décor!  I still have it up so we can root for the USA in the upcoming Olympics!

We had some friends over to grill out and let the kids play - here is the spread of food and all the red, white, and blue desserts!  YUM!

We did kick the kids out of the house, which worked well considering the bright red icing on those little brownies!  Glad they ate those in the playhouse of the swingset!

After we ate, the kids suited up and played in the little pool next door!  They all had a blast!

They also enjoyed squirting some neighbors that kept driving by on a 4 wheeler - they were ready with water guns and buckets and a fireman hose!

And since they were all in the water, we decided to get a little redneck and have a group "bath" in the pool.  I call that efficient.  And better than no bath at all (which was the original plan)!  So here is Jack getting his hair rinsed.  And me scrubbing Stella's head!  They all thought it was the funniest thing - and we had clean looking kids!  I call that a win.

Then we loeaded up to head to our spot to let the kids play and watch fireworks.  It ended up being a bust because of this thunderstorm that moved in.  Boo. 

So we headed home and watched fireworks on TV and ate another treat.  The kids were pretty disappointed in no fireworks, but a cookie and still staying up late quickly fixed that problem.  We also got a family shot - love this!

And up close of the kiddos in their gear!

And we settled in for the Boston fireworks on TV!  It was quite the show!

The next day, we stuck with the patriotic theme since we were supposed to watch fireworks that evening!

We went in enough time for the kids to enjoy running and playing.  And they certainly took advantage!

Love this picture of Brad and Jack!  The back row of the seats in the van can become tailgate seats - Katie was excited to flip them back again this year!

Some other friends met us - but Ryan would have none of the picture time.  So we got a pic of our two big kids with Olivia!

And I ran into a friend there - weird to see each other out of working out context!  Except for the fact that I hadn't had a chance to take a shower yet, so I saw her at kickboxing class and then still had the same stuff on for fireworks.  Oops!

The kids were ready to watch some fireworks!  Love this.

Daddy and his boys.  We could definitely tell the trees had grown in 2 years - we couldn't see as well as we could two years ago!  Better than getting stuck in traffic...and awesome to let the kids run and play!

One more shot - Brad and the boys.  All the kids loved watching the fireworks!

And Brad and I got a picture together - I love it!

We had such a fun time celebrating the 4th!  It was full of friends and pool time and cheeseburgers.  Perfection!

Ten Years: Our Anniversary

A couple weeks ago, we celebrated our TENTH anniversary.  Holy cow.  That is a freaking long time! We have definitely accomplished a lot in these years together...namely, the three ring circus we run :) We have also traveled a lot - very thankful for that!  We have survived houses, different jobs, different cars...I guess a lot can happen in ten years!  Here are some pictures from our first date, our wedding, our honeymoon, St Thomas trip, Europe trip, and then a more recent date night!

And then this is how we spent our actual anniversary.  Family dinner at Newks, dropping Katie off at a neighborhood VBS type event, and going to PetSmart for dog food and letting the boys see the kitties and fish.  Go big or go home, no?

Brad did bring me flowers home that afternoon!  They lasted for a long time and were beautiful!

We did get to head out to celebrate (not that Newks and PetSmart isn't a fun night out)!  Here we are when we were headed out!  We went to the mall for some shopping...Brad needed some new work clothes.  And boy did he find some - thank goodness they were all on sale!

And then we headed to an early dinner at one of my favorite restaurants!  Love this picture of us!

They had even printed special menus just for us!

And then our drinks with the special menu :)

My food was amazing!  I got the filet with asparagus and potatoes.  YUM!

And Brad got one of their specials...something involving pork. :)  And yes.  I was that lady taking pictures of our food and drinks.

After we finished our amazing dinner, we headed to a local winery!

We got some wine and found a spot to sit.  We really need to go there more often...the kids would love running around!

Wine, beautiful view, and great conversation.  Not too shabby.

As it got darker, we realized it appeared that it might storm. Thank goodness we left when we did...it poured down rain!  Our next stop? Something sweet...Krispy Kreme!!!

What a great afternoon and evening we had out together.  And the celebrating doesn't end there.  We are heading to Jamaica in a matter of days - we haven't gone anywhere just the two of us in quite some time.  I am pretty excited! Lots to do before we head out, but it will be worth it :)  Happy 10th to us!