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: 

I don’t know. I wish I could eat out every single day or hire a chef. 

What I'm reminiscing about:
This photo popped up on my timeline this week :) I miss my little baby Jack and love this picture of him!!!

What I'm loving:
I love these two short Easter messages - David loves The Miracle video and asks to watch it all the time :)

What we've been up to: 
All of the Easter things! Blog post of our Easter weekend ------> here.
 
What I'm excited about:
Still Disney World. Only 50 more days!!!!
What I'm dreading:
I really dread going grocery shopping with both Jack and David every week. (You’d think it would get easier as they get older but I swear it’s getting worse) I try my best to shop while Jack’s at preschool or at night when Spencer is home with them but this week I had to run errands with both of them. Lately, Jack finds a ridiculous item that he wants but doesn't need wherever we go and cries for it the entire trip. (This week it was Paw Patrol band aids and a white bunny with flowers on it) While I deal with Jack’s whiney fit, David destroys anything he can get his hands on.
Begging/crying for a ridiculous bunny:

What David did while I dealt with Jack’s ridiculous begging/crying (I think he was seeing how fast he could clear the shelf):

What I'm working on:
Spring cleaning and putting our winter clothes in storage and pulling out all of our summer clothes! I’m so excited for warmer weather!

What I'm watching/reading:

Sister Wives, Community, and The Mindy Project.
The Mindy Project has made me fall in love with Mindy Kaling so I read her book this month also. I love her life story plus she's hilarious - she was a writer on The Office and when I found out that she solely wrote the episode where Michael steps on the George Foreman grill it really sealed the deal for me - I just really really love her.
 
This weekend, I binge-read Lindsey Stirling's book and LOVED IT. I highly recommend it if you are a fan of hers. When people here in Iowa (or people in Alabama when we lived there) talk about what a big fan they are of hers, I act all hipster and say that she's a friend of a friend's sister, that she is from my hometown, and that I once sat on her living room floor and watched her perform back in high school before she was famous. I knew she was cool before everyone else did, so there! ;) But seriously, I think it is so cool that she has gotten so far in her music/entertainment career without compromising any of her values.

What I've been listening to:
The General Women's Session of LDS General Conference
What I'm wearing: 
The usual sweat pants.
What I'm doing this weekend: 
Watching more General Conference and getting together with friends!
What I'm looking forward to next month:
If the weather isn’t too bad, we’re going camping!!!
Bonus Question: What is your favorite spring cleaning tip?
Don't wait a year-and-a-half to deep clean your refrigerator. I am not disclosing how I learned that tip.
What's up with you?!
Here's what's up with David - potty playing, and definitely not potty training. (GROOOOSSSS!!!!!!)


 
 

Easter Weekend

We had a happy Easter!

On Friday, we went to the John Deere Pavillion to see the duck hatchings and ducklings:

Poor little duckling! haha


On Saturday, we went to an Easter egg hunt at our zoo.
The train ride and carousel were free so we went on the train first and IT CAME OFF THE TRACKS WHILE WE WERE RIDING! We were in a literal train wreck ;) Luckily, it broke right at the reptile house which was all Jack wanted to do anyway. (Seriously, we told Jack we could do the rides and he said, “No thanks, let’s just go see the turtles and the snakes.” haha My kid loves reptiles. Here we are on the train before it broke.

We saw another Easter Bunny that looked kind of like a cat #easterbunniesareseriouslycreepy #mykidslovecreepyeasterbunnies

Then the hunt began! Jack got FIVE turtles in his Easter eggs and David got all toy bugs :) What are the chances?! We were laughing so hard. The Easter bunny must know about Jack’s turtle obsession because that was the first time I’ve ever seen toy turtles in an Easter egg hunt before :)

The carousel was a hit! Sea turtle for Jack and a gorilla (and later cat) for David!



We had a great time at the zoo. It’s hard to believe that it was Spencer’s first time there because I go so often with the boys. Later that day we dyed Easter Eggs.


And on Sunday, the Easter Bunny came, we worshiped and remembered the real meaning of Easter at church together, and had dinner at our friend's home. #heisrisen #hallelujiah (Except that Jack cried when we had to go to church. "I THOUGHT IT WAS SPRING BREAK!!!! WHAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" haha)

 
Hope you had a happy Easter filled with Jesus, family, friends, and plenty of cadburry mini eggs :) These are my two favorite Easter messages:

Friday Favorites

Today, I'm linking up with Narci, Erika and Andrea for Friday Favorites!

• Imagination Station! This is one of our favorite events of the year (and it's free!) We get to meet all of the PBS characters and my kids love it! Picture dump starting now:

 



 
 
 
 

•  We saw the Easter Bunny this week too - I have yet to find an Easter bunny that doesn't creep me out, but my boys loved him! haha

• My new spring wreath! I've been on the hunt for one that I can afford that I actually like for the last couple of years (because I don't do that stressful DIY pinterest stuff ;) and snagged this one from pb kids on final sale that was almost 50 percent off. Score! 

• My mom who taught Jack a Winnie the Pooh dance via Facetime! hahaha I love his face! 

• Teaching Jack swimming lessons. I signed Jack up for my class (because he wouldn't listen to me when I taught him one-on-one) and we're both loving it :) He calls me "Miss Annie" as soon as we get to the pool, even if it's just me and him around and it cracks me up! Poor David goes to the Child Watch during Jack's lesson (then Spencer picks them up and takes them both home while I finish lessons) and David feels so left out :(

•  Friends who have bounce houses in their basement! We need one of these for the winter and a house that is big enough to fit a bounce house to go with it ;)

• My new favorite jelly beans! These are THE BEST!!!!

 

•  Easter packages from my in-laws! We are so spoiled! :)

 

• Grocery shopping ALONE!!! This month, Spencer has been taking Jack and David to the gym at night while I go grocery shopping and it feels like such a luxury not battling my kids at the store! haha

Friday Favorites

Today, I'm linking up with Narci, Erika and Andrea for Friday Favorites!

• Our St. Patrick's Day Parade! Fun fact: The Quad Cities St. Patrick Day Parade brags that it is the only St. Patrick's Day Parade that takes place in two different states. I don't know about you, but seeing a parade that starts in one state and ends in another was always on my bucket list ;) The guy behind us kept shouting to the floats, "Welcome to Iowa!!" haha

Jack LOVED the bear, and David did too, but David just showed his love differently by stalking the bear from a safe distance :)

 

•  My napping four-year-old! This doesn't happen very often but Jack almost always falls asleep if Spencer snuggles him on the couch while they watch animal documentaries on Netflix together :)

 

• Jeffrey R. Holland’s Speech from the Utah Coalition Against Pornography conference. Some of my favorite parts:

"Even though pornography increasingly comes with the generosity of the three “A”s—accessibility, affordability and anonymity—nevertheless, as addiction grows (or insatiable habit if you prefer that language) a person frequently takes increased risks to view it, such as accessing it at work or at home with family members nearby. This, of course, can lead to embarrassment, guilt, marital destruction, social ostracism, termination of employment and so forth but the viewer often feels out of control and unable to stop."

"If this moral plague could catch our imagination the way a medical epidemic does, we would be calling out every available member of the health care industry, every doctor and nurse and technician and orderly; we would have the attention of every father and mother, every grandparent and aunt and uncle asking what they could do; we would see educators and businessmen, lawyers and scientists, PTA organizations and welfare agencies lining up to send out flyers, to flood the airwaves, to give immunization shots at the local grocery store, to put up “Uncle Sam Wants You” posters in the post office, and to have night wardens with little tin helmets watching for danger the way Winston Churchill’s Londoners did during the Blitz of World War II. Yes, this ought to be seen like a public health crisis; like an infectious, fatal epidemic; like a moral plague on the body politic that is maiming the lives of our citizens. Frankly, until the sirens of a public-health war sound, I fear we will be wholly unsuccessful in this fight against the germ-invasion sweeping across our homeland"

"Let me conclude by offering the basis for the hope I have; it is hope of the highest kind. I have deep, personal feelings for the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of his redemption. I declare that force, that pull, that saving grace to be infinite and eternal in its reach, a force and a grace that will save us from all kinds of bondage and lift all kinds of burdens if we but permit it, if we but seek it, and allow it into our lives. When hope is gone and lives are shattered in a hundred different ways for a thousand different reasons, the reality of Christ’s redemptive, lifting, exalting power is still there. Against all odds and in spite of so much sin in the world, His promise is permanent, peaceful and everlasting."

•  Play dates at the park with friends! These kids spent ten minutes on the playground and over an hour digging for worms in the baseball field :) They got quite a nasty pile!

 

•  This crazy kid. Lipstick entertained him during Jack's tumbling class this week :)

 

• An Easter package from my parents! My kids got spoiled with bunnies and activities and Easter outfits. 

Painting the turtle rocks were their favorite (HOW DOES MY MOM FIND ALL THE TURTLE THINGS?!)
Waiting to paint his turtle with a turtle on his head :)

 

• This accidental text: (this is way TMI so read at your own risk but I sent this text to some close friends... AND THE WRONG NUMBER!!! We were laughing SO SO HARD!!!)

 

That poor poor person! hahaha I seriously cannot imagine getting a text like that from a random number - I think it was better than prank calling ;) Next time I'll stick to google, our nurse hotline, and an actual doctor ;) Hey, once I accidentally took a naked selfie and accidentally sent it to my mom so I'm aware that texting mishaps could always be worse!!!