5 on Friday!

Happy Friday! I’m linking up with Darci and friends for 5 on Friday! Since school is almost out and it’s practically summer (yay!), I thought I would share some of my favorite summer activities from last year.  I also created a summer bucket list full of fun activities we hope to accomplish this summer:)

{one} We started taking the kiddos on hikes last summer, which was so much fun! Will’s a pretty good trooper and Miss Harper enjoys her ride in style! We plan on doing more hikes this summer and getting outside more.

{two} Growing up, my husband and I went to our local state fair.  We took Will and Harper last year (Harper for the first time; Will had been once before when he was one) and they loved it! Will is a ride junkie…he wanted to go on all of the rides!

{three} Catching fireflies at Grammy’s house last year.  Will’s cool aunt was helping the kiddos catch fireflies (or lightning bugs-what do you call them?) last summer.

{four} Playing in the water! We bought a small inflatable pool last summer and the kiddos loved splashing around in it.  They also enjoy the water table.

{five} Exploring our local parks…we have numerous parks in our area and I’m sure we will visit them all of them this summer.  Here’s Miss Harper trying to catch up with her big brother.  I can’t get over how small she was last summer! While she’s still petite, she has definitely grown a lot since last year.

What’s on your summer bucket list?!

Mommy Summer Must-Haves

I have shared a toddler boy summer must-haves list and a toddler girl summer must-haves…now it’s time for a mommy must-have list!

{one} Retro Metro bag // I love Thirty-One products and patterns! This new print is perfect for summer.

{two} Camelbak insulated water bottle // I drink lots of water throughout the day (and especially as summer is approaching), and it’s so handy to have nice water bottles like this Camelbak.

{three} tile beach towel // I need to invest in a few more beach towels before our summer beach trip and love this pattern!

{four} jersey faux-wrap dress // summer dresses=love:)

{five} beach read // I love Emily Giffin, and her new book just came out this month! I need to get on the waiting list at our local library! While I used to take lots of books to the beach to read (before kiddos), there’s just no time for that any more, ha!

{six} sunscreen // Gotta protect your skin!

What are your summer must-haves?!

Babywearing // It’s the Little Things

Hello! I’m linking up with Ashley and Jess for “It’s the Little Things.” I love sharing in this link up since it’s such a great way for me to document and remember the little things as a mom.

Miss Harper had a respiratory virus last week and all she wanted was for mommy to hold her.  She didn’t want daddy to hold her at all:( While I love cuddling and holding her, it’s very difficult to make dinner or get anything done around the house in the evenings.  So I gave her a choice: being held in the baby carrier, sitting on the sofa while mommy works, or let daddy hold her.  She said, “Mommy, put me in baby carrier.”  It was so nice to hold her in the carrier and snuggle with her…she hasn’t been in the baby carrier in probably over a year.  You know she must not have been feeling well if she wanted in the baby carrier, ha!

Looking back, I wish I would have “worn” my kiddos more.  With Will, we tried a variety of baby carriers, including the Moby and Ergo. He liked the Ergo the best but still wasn’t so fond of being carried. He preferred to just be held without the carrier! Once Harper was born, I tried to wear her more since I had a 22 month old to chase around.  I did end up using the Ergo more with her but still not nearly as much as I see some people use them.  My kiddos just weren’t that big into it.  However, I cherish the babywearing times I had and look back at these photos (and others from when Will and Harper were babies) and remember those times with great joy. I’m soaking up the last few moments when Harper still wants to be carried in the Ergo:)

Will’s First Year of Preschool

Will has finished his first year of preschool! As his mommy, I can’t believe how fast time has flown by:( It makes me so sad to think that my little boy is already four and has completed his 3 year old preschool program.  Time, please slow down!

He attended preschool two days a week in the mornings this year and next year, he will go three days a week.  I am fortunate to have a great babysitter who takes him and picks him up each day.  Without her, Will wouldn’t be able to attend preschool since I work full time.  Will’s preschool teacher and aide have been wonderful…fortunately, the aide works with the 4 year old program so he will have a familiar face next year.  Next year’s teacher has substituted for Will’s 3 year old class and Will absolutely adores her! The first day he met her, he came home and told me that he named his stuffed puppy dog after his new preschool teacher, ha!

To celebrate his preschool year, we attended a cute end of year program last week.  Will and his preschool friends sang and danced, and we saw a cute slideshow of all the fun the kiddos had this year.  On the slideshow was a picture of each preschooler as a baby.  On the next slide, it showed a current picture and information about what they want to be when they grow up, what their favorite color is, etc.  Over half his class wants to be farmers, including Will! We do live in a rural, agricultural area after all, ha!

After the preschool program, they had a very nice reception with cake and punch for everyone.

Weekly Pinterest Project: Week 42-Peanut Butter Honey Yogurt Dip

I made a delicious peanut butter honey yogurt dip  from one of my go-to recipe blogs, Two Peas & Their Pod.  The kiddos and I loved this easy peasy dip and they had fun helping me make it!

I (the kids, actually!) mixed together 6 ounces of vanilla Greek yogurt (the recipe called for plain but I liked the flavor that vanilla added), 3 tablespoons peanut butter, and 3 teaspoons honey.  That’s it!

Tasting the dip!

I sliced up some apples for us to dip into the peanut butter honey yogurt goodness.

This is a great snack for kiddos, especially since they can dip the apples into the yogurt.  I don’t know about your kids, but my kids love food that they can dip…it makes everything so much more fun!

Summer Bucket List!

Since it’s Memorial Day Weekend, the official kick off to summer, I thought I’d share our summer bucket list.  I create a bucket list each year as a way of remembering all of the fun summer activities we enjoy.  Throughout the summer, I will recap how we’re doing with our list! I love that some of these activities have become yearly family traditions for us…love creating new traditions:)  What’s on your summer list?

5 on Friday!

Happy Friday! I’m linking up with Natasha and friends for 5 on Friday:)

{one} Spring blooms! I’m loving this weather and the gorgeous flowers that are popping up around us! School is almost over and summer will be here! Yay!

{two} Water Wows-these are really fun no-mess paint with water coloring pads from Melissa and Doug.  You fill the pen up with water and “paint” on the scenes.  The color magically appears and dries so you can color the pictures over and over again.  We enjoy these coloring pads in the car as well…it’s a fun travel activity.  

{three} Making pb and honey sandwiches! Will has really been big into helping me in the kitchen lately and was thrilled when I told him he could make his own peanut butter and honey sandwich for his field trip this week.  We typically eat leftovers for lunch (even the kiddos…I pack them leftovers and they have hot lunches every day at the babysitter) so it’s rare that we have bread in the house.  We just aren’t big sandwich eaters.  However, my husband and Will went on a field trip this week (see picture below) and I needed to make sandwiches for them.  Now Will has been asking for a peanut butter sandwich all the time, ha!

{four} I was unable to go on Will’s field trip this week due to conflicts with school, so my husband went.  He texted me pictures throughout the morning of Will and his preschool friends having their field day, which was so fun!  For this field trip, they headed to a local park and set up stations with a variety of games and activities.  They also had a picnic lunch.  My husband told me that Will was so shy and clung to him most of the time.  Here’s a picture of his class (he’s in the green striped shirt). 

{five} Essential oils-do you use them? I’ve been reading more and more about them on blogs and am curious about them.  I picked up some orange essential oil from a local store the other week and plan on making a bug spray that’s safe for kiddos.  I just haven’t gotten around to making it yet, ha! I’m sure it will be one of my weekly Pinterest project posts:)

I hope you all have a super weekend!

Toddler Girl Summer Must-Haves

Last week, I shared some toddler boy summer must-haves and I’m back for the toddler girl edition!

{one} ruffled swimsuit//I love the ruffles! I ended up ordering this swimsuit for Harper in purple, her favorite color.  Let’s just hope that it fits her!

{two} flip flops//I love little girl flip flops! Unfortunately, Harper cannot stand them! She is very particular about her clothes and shoes. We tried on a pair of flip flops the other evening and she had a fit! Huge meltdown on the floor, kicking and screaming:(

{three} sunhat//Fortunately, Harper doesn’t mind wearing a hat.  Loving these polka dots!

{four} sunglasses//We recently bought Harper a pair of pink sunglasses, which she loves to wear!

{five} beach towel//Some of my favorite color combos for girls–navy and pink!

{six} maxi dress//You gotta have a sundress!

How fun! I can’t wait until summer! Check back soon with a post on mommy summer must-haves!

Harper’s Hair Style Success! // It’s the Little Things

Hello! Last month, I posted about Harper’s hairstyle and how difficult it was to do anything with her hair.  Well, on Friday while at work I received a text from my neighbor (our neighbor’s mom is Nana, our kids’ babysitter) with the most adorable picture of Harper with pigtails!  She was able to put Harper’s hair in pigtails by distracting her with some hairbands to play with.

So on Saturday morning when I had a few minutes, I decided to try once again to put Harper’s hair in pigtails.  Success! I still need to work on getting the sides more even (her part is not exactly centered) but it looks adorable! To get Harper to cooperate, I dumped a container of hair clips and ties out on the bed.  She and Will played with them.  Will even took a hair tie and put it on his dog as a “flea collar.”

Look at my cute pigtails!

Will being silly! He wanted to style his own hair as well!

Back view of the off balanced pigtails (oh, and Will putting the flea collar on his dog!).

I’m sure her hairstyles will look better with practice, but I’m just happy that she will let me fix her hair!

Weekly Pinterest Project: Week 41-Mother’s Day Notebook

Hello! Welcome to another Weekly Pinterest Project! I recently saw an alternative to the traditional Mother’s Day cards on several blogs and loved the idea.  Instead of cards, you create a Mother’s Day notebook where your husband and kiddos can write notes and draw pictures each year.  I love this concept because it keeps all of the Mother’s Day cards, notes, etc. in one place and it also is cheaper in the long-run, ha! I hate spending money on cards…I always go for the $1 card section when I have to buy cards. I love sending notes and wishing people happy birthday and that sort of thing, but I think it’s ridiculous how much some cards cost! Ok, rant over!

I have been keeping all of the cards I receive in a beautiful wooden box that was hand-painted by my childhood friend’s mother and given to us as a wedding present.  Isn’t it pretty?! I dug out the past four Mother’s Day cards I have received from my hubby and kiddos and taped them into a pretty notebook I bought at Target.

Here’s the completed project! So easy but very meaningful. Now all my husband has to do is write in the notebook each year!