What's Up Wednesday

Today, I’m linking up with Shay, Shaefer and Mel for What’s Up Wednesday!

What we're eating this week: 

We wing it almost every night ever since Spencer quit diary, grains, beans and legumes. (Thankfully he splurges a few meals a week) But there's no way in heck I'm catering to that diet so I quit planning meals! haha We usually grill and it's simple and delish!

What I'm reminiscing about:
My sweet baby Jack who started KINDERGARTEN this week! Whaaaaaaah! Seriously I feel like it was just yesterday that he was this tiny:

 
I wrote a little more here about him starting Kindergarten, but he loves it and we survived the first day :) He chose a maple donut for breakfast on his first day so we stopped at Bosa donuts before dropping him off.

 Here he is at back to school night trying out his very own desk:


What I'm loving: 
Our little Kate. She's three months and is now grabbing things, rolling over, and insisting on sleeping on her tummy. Sorry for the millions of pictures below :

 
 


 













These guys are pretty cute too ;)
 
What we've been up to:
My brother, James, and his cute little family came to visit us this weekend. Maddie's birthday was on Saturday, and we celebrated by going to a Dback's game.
These boys LOVE James and Maddie and Cavlin!


Spiderman painted their faces - we are really good at finding Spiderman around town ;) This was the fourth Spiderman they've seen!








Last week, we played hard with friends at the pool and at Urban Jungle!


I've known all of these kid's parents since I was a kid :) Perks of moving back to Arizona :)

We found a delicious pizza place that gives you a free slice of pizza on Tuesdays when you buy a drink. Jack was in heaven with this pizza that was bigger than his face!

What I'm dreading:
Everything that I was dreading already happened, thank goodness.  I sent Jack to Kindergarten and I visited the dang DMV THREE TIMES!!!
The first time, I brought all the documentation the website said to bring but missed the teeny tiny note on the bottom of the page that said that I needed to bring my marriage license if I was married. The second time, I brought my marriage license and I finally got my az license but then I discovered today that they left out my last name and only printed my maiden name 😩😩😡😡After many hours of waiting and lots of curse words later, I went again for (hopefully) the last time. By the third drivers license picture they took of me I considered flipping the camera off 😏 Then when we got to the car, I realized I lost the keys so we had to go back in. Then when we finally found the keys and drove away, I realized that we left Kate's blanket. Maybe the universe was mad that I lied about my weight??? 🤷🏼‍♀️😆 
 
What I'm working on:
Fixing my blog. I used photobucket as a 3rd party hosting site for all of my photos on my blog in 2014 and 2015 and now they won't allow 3rd party hosting unless you pay $400 a year so all of my photos are being held hostage. I've gotta convert 2 years worth of blogging photos which is going to take so. much. time. My goal is to have it done by Christmas and then to print out my blog so I at least have a hard copy. Curious what you bloggers use for photos, and if you converted your blog to a website, how you did it? I'm so clueless when it comes to this kind of stuff and what the best long term solution is for keeping a blog.

What I'm excited about:
Monsoon season! It rained a ton on Sunday night and Monday morning, and when I asked David what he wanted to do after we dropped Jack off at school, he said he wanted to go for a walk! (then clean the floors, then do the dishes, then watch tv - he cracks me up!) It was 76 degrees at 9 in July in Arizona - a miracle.



I found this in a box I unpacked - an unused birthday gift from my great grandma given to me on my 7th birthday! Jack and David enjoyed their painting activity from their great great grandma!


What I'm watching:

I watch Friends while I nurse (I'm on the last season now!) and Spencer and I started the 3rd season of 24.
What I'm reading:
Still nothing since I had Kate #readingfail
What I've been listening to:
The La La Land Soundtrack! Love it!
What I'm wearing: 
My mom just got me this blouse that I love for an early birthday present. (Please excuse the bathroom clutter :) I also just bought this nursing friendly dress that I love! It's so comfortable that it feels like I'm wearing pajamas :)

What I'm doing this weekend: 
Celebrating my sister's birthday! She and my mom are coming to town for her birthday!
What I'm looking forward to next month:
As much as I was dreading sending Jack to Kindergarten, I am really looking forward to sending David to preschool. He is so ready and I am sooooo ready to send him ;)
Bonus Question: What's your favorite thing about summer?
Vacations!!!

Jack starts Kindergarten

I asked Jack last week if he was ready to start kindergarten and he loudly exclaimed, "YOU BET I AM!!!!" And he really is. (I'm not sure if I am, but we found a school that offers half day kindergarten which has helped my aching heart a bit :) Last night, Jack kept telling us, "I need to go to bed! I've got a BIG day tomorrow!" And it was a big day!

Jack was an infant when my brother, James, left for his mission. During that time, my mom often called to check up on me and Jack and at the end of almost every phone call she would jokingly and sometimes seriously say, "Start preparing to say goodbye to Jack now! Hold on to him tight! Savor every minute. You will have to let him go sooner than you think!" Today, I had to let a little bit of him go. Kindergarten came too soon.

Jack walked into his classroom today as confident and as excited as could be, and I held back tears as we hugged and kissed goodbye and exchanged two big thumbs ups. As I drove home, I thanked God for these wonderful, five-and-a-half years where I got to spent nearly 100 percent of my time with my sweet Jack. It was such a short glimpse of time, and such a gift.
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When I picked Jack up from school, he said, "That was really fun! I didn't even miss you, cuz that was really fun! And I didn't even have to put my hand on my cheek because I was totally fine!!!"

(from the book, The Kissing Hand. Basically, you kiss each other's hands before they go to school and if you miss each other, you put your hand on your cheek so it's like getting a kiss.)

Man, I love that boy who doesn't even miss me at school ;)

Life lately/Oceanside

This summer has gone by so fast! Jack starts school a week from tomorrow (we are doing modified year round so it starts early - whaaaaah!!!) so we only have one more week of summer left. We've been playing hard this last week!

On Friday, we drove to Phoenix to visit the science center because we can get in free with our museum pass from Iowa. I don't know what it is but I really don't enjoy museums, but it is Jack's FAVORITE thing. Jack and David loved it. A friend of mine from high school does live science experiments there (I was surprised to see her!) and Jack and David LOVED it! David said, "Mom! Your friend is magical!" and Jack kept saying to me throughout the day, "I can't believe that you have a friend who is a scientist!"
The guy in front of us was clearly enjoying himself ;)


Afterwards, we stopped by Spencer's hospital to see his new office.

I jumped in the shower the other day while Kate was awake and later found documentation of what Jack and David did to entertain her while I was showering. haha Poor girl!

Jack and David often beat me to her crib when she wakes up from a nap and fight over her and/or love on her. I walked into her getting a nice head massage with her pajamas sliding off of her the other day!

She loves her daddy!

Speaking of loving their daddy... David still comes into our bed every single night and shares Spencer's pillow with him. David prefers to be the big spoon ;) We have failed with him in the sleep training department for his entire life. (Also, looking for tips on how to get three-year-old boys to stop peeing in everything BUT the toilet?!!!! Bushes, buckets, plastic tubs, trash cans, you name it. And how to get bathrooms to stop smelling like urine? Asking for a friend... ;)

We love the kids club at the mall. Free ticket to the carousel, free sample at See's candy, indoor play place, and pretzels :)

My dressing like a cow game was not strong this year, but we still got free food! #oppositeofpinterestmom

Sadly, I was reading up on this last week. I've been fighting it for so long but I surrendered and embraced the fact that I'm now a #pokemonmom.

Arizona's sunsets #allthehearteyes

When it's 110 degrees outside, we play with fake snow ;) This stuff entertains them for hours!

Last weekend, we drove to Oceanside for the weekend (since Spencer hasn't accrued any time off yet) and met my mom and Isaac, and James, Maddie and Calvin there. We drove 12 hours round trip for less than 48 hours on the beach and it was totally worth it :) We had a blast!
Beach photo dump: