Mom hacks and things I'm loving

(FYI I'm not sure why the formatting is so weird in this post and I'm too lazy to figure it out!) 

I have discovered new hacks for each of my kids that has helped with their behavior significantly!

Jack - I signed him up for Homework Club at his school - he stays 30 minutes after school and gets all of his homework done! Then once he his home, he's done and there is no nagging him to do anything (PLUS I don't have to wait in the horribly long and hot carpool line 4 days a week!) We also started doing his 10 minutes of reading before school when we are both fresh, because there is nothing worse than listening to a tired and whiney 1st grader trying to read after 8 pm ;)

David - music! The first day Jack went to school this year, I asked David what he wanted to do during the day and offered the library, museum, having a friend over, etc and he said, "Let's just go home and have a dance party." hahaha! David is my rage-y child, but I've noticed that when I turn on music during the day he can't help but cheer up and dance. He and Kate both love it :)

Kate - we've learned this month how important it is to walk the baby, regardless of the hot weather :) She basically acts like a dog anytime we ask her if she wants to go for a walk and have started going for short walks after dinner. She gets stir crazy at home and loves to get out of the house. Can't wait for cooler weather!










































































































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Things I'm loving:

• David's new preschool! It seems like with every milestone he hits, I'm surprised he's not one milestone above that! David is only 4 1/2 but I catch myself telling people all of the time that he's 5 already!!! Maybe it's because he is always trying to keep up with Jack, but David has always seemed bigger to me and while I can't believe he's not starting kindergarten this year, I'm glad I get one more year at home with this spunky kid :) My favorite quote from David this week while he was eating a s'more in his if-you-give-a-mouse-a-cookie voice: "If you give a kid a s'more... he's gonna get reeeeeeeally sticky!!!" Love this boy!

Kate and Jack love the cows at David's school (and I love the temple in the background!)

Kate's face kills me!!! This is the face she makes every time she is nervous about a dog or other animal! haha

• the fact that I can post all of Jack's art work on this blog and then throw them away with zero guilt ;)

Sharks

dinosaur puppets

megaladon pic ;)

• Family yoga at Lifetime Fitness! They started this class a couple of weeks ago and Jack and David both love it! The teacher is amazing and engaging and at the end of class, she gets my crazy wiggly kids to get "quiet inside." They lay on their backs (savasana) and close their eyes and are still for about five minutes and as she puts cold, wet towels on their heads and guides them through positive affirmations. It makes me tear up every time seeing their little bodies responding!

• "Long pizza" as Jack calls it! Venezia's is Jack's favorite pizza and he has been asking for so long to go! They had a special on Tuesday so we went after yoga!

• The fact that Jack and David can play Uno together without adult supervision! 

• These screen shots :)

• Vietnamese food! Spencer has a favorite place in North Phoenix that he goes to sometimes at work and I got to try it this Saturday. So yummy!!!!

• My mom's pictures of Glacier National Park! She went this month with friends and it is now on my bucket list!

• This sweet snuggly teething girl. I took this picture at 10 pm. I'm not sure if Spencer was putting her to bed or vise vera :)

• This sunset at the church before volleyball 

• My cute little "helper" in the kitchen :)

• The fact that Kate can sometimes hold her own with Jack and David and play with them. We set up the tents/forts that my parents got for them a while ago and the three of them played in them together all weekend. Also, I'm loving that Kate has formed an attachment to this little pink bunny. She calls it "Beebee" and wants it all the time :)

Last week of summer for David!

David starts preschool on Tuesday and I don't know who is more excited, me or him! (Probably me ;) David prefers to stay home over just about ANY activity and without Jack and our old next door neighbor (Saige) to entertain him every day, it's taken more effort on my part to keep him from not watching the Ipad all day long!!!
On Monday, we went to Skateland! I called Spencer on the way there and he told me I was crazy and to bail while I still could! haha! When David got his skates at first, he couldn't hold his balance at all and I had to walk and hold him up while also holding Kate and I about bailed after 1 minute! I ended up renting a balancing thing for him and asking if I could rollerblade while pushing a stroller and surprisingly they said that was ok! Balancing thing + strollerblading = game changer! We all had SO MUCH FUN!!!!
 
 
 
 
 
 We fueled up with cotton candy then went for another round :)
 
 
 David did get to play with Saige two times this week so David was a happy boy!

 
 
 The kids took a bubble bath for the first time in a long time and loved it :)



 We've been enjoying the monsoons this season! There have been SO MANY!!! A couple times last week it cooled down to (a tiny bit) under 100 degrees so we took advantage of it and went outside!!!

 


 
We tried HelloFresh meal delivery because I had a great coupon code for the first box. (You pick a couple of meals and they send you all of the ingredients to make it) We were surprised how much we liked the food and the convenience of it all but we canceled the subscription because it's pretty pricey full price :( These were the yummy Korean beef tacos:

Kate's latest thing in the car is to reach her hand up and scream at me for water or a snack the entire drive. As soon as I give her something she reaches her hand up again for something different. It's a very frustrating guessing game but that dimply hand sure is cute :)

She prefers every seat in the care besides her car seat :)

This girl LOVES her some popscicles. She is always saying "pop pop" and reaching for the freezer :) My mom gave me the popscicle holders a few years ago and they are a LIFE SAVER (or I guess just a mess saver :)

Life lately

• We are sending all of our love and prayers to the Barzee family right now. Her sweet son died in a tragic ATV accident at their family reunion last week. The funeral was on Friday and it was heart breaking and beautiful. Jack and David wore their "live like Wesley" bracelets that I got for them at the viewing the day of the funeral. When Jack got home from school he said, "Mom, I said a prayer at school today." I asked him the details and he said, "I said a prayer in my head for Wesley and Grandma in heaven." I sure love my sweet boy. A friend of the Barzees commented on social media and said. "I've found myself enjoying cleaning up after and the everyday mundane things I usually complain about... all in honor of sweet Wesley and his mama because I'm lucky enough to get to do those things. I know she would give anything to go back to their "normal life." It doesn't seem right. A parent or sibling or playmate should never have to go through a tragedy of this magnitude." I found myself thinking those same thoughts this week. 

Wesley is the sweet boy second from the left.

 
 

• The Veaters (best next door neighbors ever) officially moved this week :( We are already suffering major withdrawals. David truly is lost without Saige and we already miss their spontaneous play dates every day :( Luckily we got to pick her up from her new house one day this week for a play date!

 David invited another friend over this week too so not having Saige next door is forcing him to branch out a bit ;)
 

•  I took Jack and David to a family yoga class last week! It was so cute! They loved being able to go upstairs instead of the kids area and see where I go when I drop them off at the gym :) We love Lifetime Fitness!

Pit stop on the way back from yoga :)

• Jack brought some papers back from school and everything he drew about his summer was about when he boogie boarded over three sharks :) He is still pretty proud about that fact!

 
 

• Monsoons! It rained hard the night the Veaters moved - we send them off with a bang :)

 
 

• There is a new Blue Bell ice cream flavor - we weren't so sure about it... until we tasted it! We are already on our second tub :)

• Kate LOVES her baths :)

• Jack put on a dinosaur puppet show for us the other night, complete with homemade puppets and refreshments at the end :) Love this kid :)