Weekly Rewind: September 23-29

Well, I do believe that my wacky week and a half long headache is gone. So, it is that time again to share what we have been up to! Here's a look back at the fun we had as September came to an end.

{MONDAY}

This is how we roll...

 ...down the hill, bumping into each other...

  Good times!

 {TUESDAY}

 This is NOT what you want to find in your laundry room at 545 in the morning as you are trying to get the ironing board out without waking the rest of the house up. Meet Mr. Grasshopper...er, locust? He flies...And, he somehow found a cozy spot in my laundry room. Of course, it was 545 am and I wasn't sure what it was at first, so everything came crashing down. Jason really thought that I was dreaming this. Well, we were almost late to school due to me making sure this little guy was caught and shown to the world. HA! I was NOT dreaming... 

{WEDNESDAY}

We headed to the zoo!!

 It was breakfast time in the primate house. Love that guy on the right :)

 Banging on some Djembe drums and being silly with masks

 {THURSDAY}

Picked up a TON of fall themed library books on Tuesday. This one is Alex's favorite one! When I "read" (no words - just pictures) it to the boys after school, Alex CRIED at the end!! If you haven't seen this book, it is SO cute!! The little bird is lost and the cat helps him find his way back to his bird family. They become friends along the journey South. Well, they find the little bird's family and must say goodbye to each other. The cat needed to get back home anyway. Well, as they hugged goodbye, Alex just busted out in tears and wanted them to stay together. It was so sweet. I told him that the bird would come back and this was just a little vacation until it was warmer back home. Oh, my...love that little guy.

Jason "read" it with him, too. You can see his little hand on his face... The cat is on the page waving bye to the birds. He was sad again, but no tears this time. But Alex said, "Cat goes home... (sniffles)" Really, it is a super cute book. I might just have to get it to add to our collection of fall/Halloween books for next year.

{THURSDAY}

 My view from my doc's office. Nice, huh? Yep, another appointment. I'm going every 2 weeks now... Fun. Oh, and this time my doc was out of town - which I knew so I chose the doc that delivered Andrew... But, let me just complain a bit for a sec (because that's what I do now apparently)... My blood pressure NEVER cooperates with the nurse. I have to ALWAYS have it taken at least twice before leaving. So, I let this nurse (the nurse to the doc that delivered Andrew) know this before taking my blood pressure. And, yep. It was not being nice. So, we wait to take it until the end of the appointment. And, it was ok, but not perfect. But, it was in the range it ALWAYS is in when I leave my doctor. So, it is like 1:45pm. It's Thursday. I pick up the boys in about an hour at the latest. Well, the nurse and doc didn't like what they saw...maybe they should look at my file BEFORE what they say next. The nurse comes back in and says, "Well, it's a little high so just hang out in here for a bit and we will try again." Anyone that knows me knows that I am now beginning to get anxious that maybe I am not going to get to that car rider line to get my little men. Ten minutes go by and she tries again. Again, I'm beginning to get nervous. It's now about 2:10pm... Sure the school is about 7-8 minutes away, but still! Well, my blood pressure is a tad higher...shocker! So she doesn't say anything and goes back out to talk to the doc. I can kind of hear them, but not really. Maybe they were talking about me...maybe not. But I hear "labor and delivery" and "33 weeks" and some other bologna that I DON'T have time to hear about right now - I have kids to pick up. I am the ONLY one with the cars seats and they are in the parking deck. Grrr. Anyway, I'm still pregnant and Austin is still chilling out for now. I got the boys in time and, yes, I now have 2 extra back up friends in case this happens again. Which, knowing my doc...I'm sure it will. He is such a tease...I wonder if he had anything to do with this... Kidding. Kinda.

{FRIDAY}

 Playing tackle football with Daddy. Yes, TACKLE football. Don't worry about Alex he can take care of himself. He is starting to catch up to Andrew in speed, too. Andrew better watch out LOL

 Alex's turn to be the QB

{SATURDAY}

New project for Austin!  It is all done actually! I made him this Cozy Baby Afghan over the weekend. It was super easy to make and it went by really fast. Just 3 colors and a mega crochet hook (I used a Q hook - it is huge! Biggest I have gone was K hook one time). It is SO soft and cozy! The colors are from Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Rust, Dusty Blue, and Beige. It is hanging over the side of his crib now! Love it!!

 Apple Cider Floats for Jason and I after the boys were in bed. They were ok. I liked them fine, but I feel like it needed something else... Jason wasn't a huge fan. Oh, well. There are more fall treats to be made!

{SUNDAY}

 It was National Coffee Day today (9/29), so with my handy dandy Dunkin Donuts app, I got my freebie iced coffee and donuts for these men in my life :) Yummy! Gotta love a good coffee that is also FREE!!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And just to check up to see how things went around the House last week...

 

Last Week's Goals:

Family Goals:
1. Pick up fall book from the library I got ALMOST all of the ones I wanted. We read through all 15 of them twice, too. So next week, we are going back for more!
2. Put together big brother and daddy bags I am SO glad to have this all done! Andrew and Alex are going to be surprised to see that Austin has a little something for them! I will share what I did for them soon!
3. Go on a family adventure this weekend! Maybe something like this? We will be doing something THIS weekend instead! :)

Personal Goals:
4. Wake up at 530 everyday this week.
5. Keep reading through Catholic Mom's Cafe and A Catholic Mother's Companion to Pregnancy
6. Catch up on my fav podcasts in the car while boys are at school and I'm out running errands. I'm back to listening to the Simple Mom podcast and the Inspired to Action podcast. These are great! I'm almost caught up with these! And, I even came across one at just the right time! These days I'm having a bit of a patience problem (what? me? noooooo..... lol) and Kat with Inspired to Action had the perfect solution the day before I knew I was going to being a mommy monster... Gotta love those days...

Home Goals:
7. Paint the frames for Austin's room. I can never remember to tell Jason to get the frames out of the attic for me... Along with the Fall wreath... Brain freeze...
8. Make another Fall treat! I made Oatmeal Pumpkin Cookies over the weekend. I am thinking of making Apple Cider Floats this weekend!
9. Clean up front walk, trim bushes, weed the beds, etc. Oops...I'm sure my neighbors love my "harvest" look I have going on. LOL Oh, well. This weekend!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And for this week's to-do list:

Family Goals:

1. Pick up more fall/Halloween books from the library AND have a reading picnic!! Fun! 

2. Work on the "Our Father" with the boys.  

3. Go on a family adventure this weekend!

Personal Goals:

 4. Rise and shine 530 am!

5. Sanitize and organize binkies, bottles, and other items needed

6. Read Catholic Mom's Cafe and A Catholic Mother's Companion to pregnancy. 

7. Listen to the rest of the podcasts - find some new ones!

Home Goals:

8. Paint the frames for Austin's room and get print outs done

9. Fall treat! Sweet and Salty Fall Snack Mix OR Scarecrow Crunch

 10. Yard work! Some serious yard work...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Happy Fall, y'all!

 

Welcome July!

I was thinking that July was going to bring out those horrible days of summer where you just want to enjoy the sweet tea and A/C. But, sadly...no. Mr. Weather Man had a better idea. Excessive amount of rain. WHAT?! I swear...it has been raining for a week. And, those percentages just won't quit...

Luckily, we did get in some play time and we even enjoyed fireworks...in OUR backyard. Yep, that is right, y'all. I do believe...I am - gasp! - an official Alabamian. Oh. My. Word (I can say that now. Ha!). Though, I guess I have lived here the longest now and it is just time to let it go... I am no longer - sigh - a Floridian.   ::enter tears::

Eh, I'll get over it. While I figure out a way, want to see our super cool 4th of July fun?! Yeah, you do!!

{MONDAY}

 Library time! And, wow! This was the QUIETEST they have ever been at this place. I'm going to hijack these one day... Kidding. I do need to get to this store though and get a few of these magnetic maze boards. Very cool.

 We ran over to the mall for lunch (Yes, Kristi, we ate Chinese Mall Food!!!!! And, it was awesome!). But even better was finding these super cute football pajamas for my boys!!! Now, they will be ready for the NFL football season (Hey, just because I'm an Alabamian now does NOT mean I will become a college football fan. I'll do that when a college pays for my kid(s) to attend their fine establishment. But, not today...)

{TUESDAY}

 

 Rock painting - why not? We have a million back here. Might as well make them pretty :)
Only, if you have preschoolers...they tend to use ALL of the colors. Which, if you mix all of the colors... Well, then, you get brown. Hmm...We need to work on our coloring mixing a bit more.
 

The best of brothers and the best of friends.

 Crazy hair after a great nap

 Mama's afternoon pick-me-up - a wonderfully good iced coffee :)

 I hate this book... (though it is not NEAR as evil as Fox in Socks) "Where's Waldo? Hollywood" something book. Andrew is AMAZING at this book. How he finds ALL of the people (Waldo, Wenda, the Wizard, Woof's tail - just the tail...ugh - and Odlaw) I have no idea. He is awesome at these books. Can you find Odlaw in this picture? HINT: You will only see his face. Who the heck is Odlaw (black and yellow)? Click here for a reminder.  Good luck. I keep losing him...

{WEDNESDAY}

Cake time! It is that time of the year again to get my cake on. This is now my 3rd year helping our church's Cake Walk at the 4th of July Festival. I make a cake "for" each of my boys. They like to help out with the cake making and they get to choose which one to make. The top one is Alex's - it is a "Lemon-Poppy Seed Doughnut Cake" YUM! The bottom one is Andrew's - a Captain {Chocolate} America! Love it!

{THURSDAY - 4TH OF JULY!!!}

 Ready for today's festivities!!

 4th of July Festival

 Heading home after a fun rest-of-the-day at Kristi's - which...how I didn't get ANY pictures is beyond me. We had so much fun, I guess I never thought of it :/ But, getting fireworks for the 1st time (for me and the boys anyway...it was illegal everywhere else I lived) was something to take a pic of, apparently... LOL!!

As you can see, Jason had so much fun show us newbs the firework fun! He LOVED it!! He turned into quite the pyro within a few moments of the first sparkler! 

 Some pics of our backyard fireworks - we had a blast!! Har-dee-har-har!! :)

{FRIDAY}

 Love Craigslist!! I got this BRAND NEW (with manuals and everything) Graco SnugRide Travel System for $75!!! HELLO! Awesome. They boys love that both of their favorite colors are on Baby Austin's stroller and car seat!

 Make me so happy... Andrew just LOVES Austin already. He kisses my tummy more times than I can count. They both do, but Alex is much to quick to get a good picture...stinker. ;)

Well, that is all for tonight's updates! Tomorrow, I hope to share with you the 2nd portion of "The Shared Bedroom Adventures."  Have a great evening, everyone!

House Happenings

Well, this was quite the week at the House!! Alex is learning to ride his trike, Andrew is done with school and moving up to PreK-3 in the Fall, and SUMMER is here! Eh, calendar schmalendar... Summer is here when school is out. That is just how it goes. Though, I'm sure you'll hear me say, "What?! School?! The summer isn't over until the calendar says so!" Gotta love it. Anyway, we are gearing up for a super fun Memorial Day Weekend. Hope yours is a great one!!

{Sunday}

 Check it out! Alex has a set of wheels! His favorite color, too - Green!! And, the best part? $20 on Craigslist. I saw this exact one at the toys store. They wanted $160 for it...um, what?! Are you kidding me? I don't think so. Andrew has been using his for about a year now and he is ready for big boy bike. Maybe for his birthday? We will see. He is very particular about which one he wants. LOL Boys and their toys, right? Anyway, $160 is just ridiculous for the amount of time that he is going to use it. And, he loves it. Just look at that face!!

{Monday}

 Check it out. We are ready for the summer with a book full of awesome coupons. Woot! I remember having to sell these kinds of books for school fundraisers (which I hated - but, now that I'm a mom...where are the kids selling these? I had to get mine online. At least it was 1/2 off because 1/2 of the year is gone now). These are based on city - so grab one!

{Tuesday}

 Last day of school!!!

Top: Breakfast surprise! I left each of them a Batman toy at their spot on the table. Alex will get to start school next year, so he got one, too. 

Middle: Ice Cream treat after school!!

Bottom: Hot dog sprinkler party for dinner! 

Mud-putt golf, anyone?

 

 

Sprinkler fun before dinner

 While Andrew was at school, Alex and I ran the rest of our errands, got lunch, and headed to the park. He LOVED climbing all over the "big big big" rocks.

{Wednesday}

We played outside all morning and had our lunch outside. There was a so-called "chance" of rain for the afternoon, so we picked up and headed indoors the rest of the day. Where was that rain? Never came. Interesting...

 While the boys were taking a nap and having quiet time, I worked on Andrew's photo book of all his projects he did this year. If you are interested in seeing it, let me know. I will share the link with family and close friends only, however.

 {Thursday}

Another day of playing in the sunshine!

{Friday}

Hello, Memorial Day Weekend sales! We headed out to the outlets today. Check out Alex's favorite purchase - new sunglasses!

 You know, cuz his future's so bright! ;)

 Daddy came home early as we were just getting ready to go outside. And, yep. ALL of us were trying to get that rock out. Still. I swear...the boys have been working on getting that boulder out (where Jason is digging) for about 1 year or so now. It's pretty big...I don't know if they will actually get it out before we end up moving. Too funny!

After dinner treat? Frozen GoGurts!! Yeah!! 

Time to get ready for the weekend!! We hope everyone has a safe and fun Memorial Day!!

So Many Books...So Little Time

I have a never ending list of books that I want to read. I have about 8 pages of books on one of my Amazon wish lists...and on my Kindle there are about 12 pages of books I have downloaded, but haven't gotten to yet.

And, as great as it is to have books instantly in my fingertips, some are still a bit pricey - especially for an electronic edition. My latest splurge was on Life of Pi (read it over the summer and cannot WAIT to see the movie!) - I think it was listed at $12.99 at the time. I can't do that with all the book I want to read.

Luckily, I came across a new site, thanks to Money Saving Mom, for us who love to read on the cheap! Crystal and Ashley, from FiveJs, have teamed up to offer the best free and cheep books available to download to your Kindle or your Kindle app on your smart phone (also available via PDF file). Stop by eReaderGirl to check out what titles are available today. We have a nice long weekend ahead of us, maybe it is time to get your reading on!

For more ways to stay connected with ERG and see new deals posted every day, just follow them!



Disclosure: The opinions in this post are 100% mine. I have received no compensation for this post. This is a great site that I wanted to share. 
ERG on Facebook
ERG on Twitter
RSS Feed (email notifications)

Step into the School Year with Style

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Famous Footwear for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
School supplies, snacks, new clothes - oh, my! Don't forget the shoes! But don't spend a lot. Kids - especially toddlers - grow WAY TOO FAST! Save yourself the hassel and stock up on a few different sizes for great prices at Famous Footwear.
Andrew has found some shoes that he really likes. Check out what he is loving!


New Balance 689 Toddlers - He says these look like Daddy's shoes, so he needs them.


Thomas and Friends Ride the Rails - His little brother just got a pair of these from Grandma. So, of course he wants some, too! Brothers are so funny.

Luckily, there is a promotion going on right now just in time for back-to-school shopping!! Not only is Famous Footwear holding their BOGO + 15% off Famous Footwear Coupon! Score!


While this wouldbe a great coupon to use for just my oldest that is headed back to preschool, this would be perfect to use to grab the next size up for Alex. Though after "getting lost" in the women's section online, I am sure I could put it to good use on some things for me, right?
Make sure you PRINT out this coupon (BOGO + 15% off Famous Footwear Coupon) and use it BEFORE AUGUST 18th!
Before checking out with your awesome finds, make sure to sign up for their Rewards Program!!
• Earn 1 point for every $1 you spend in-store or online
• Accumulate points to earn certificates up to $100 a year
• Discount offer just for signing up
• Other special inside discounts and perk
Now get shopping!