Things I'm Loving

• THE WEATHER!!! I know we are not completely in the clear yet, but it has felt more spring-y here in Iowa. Our winter has been a lot more mild than last year and I’m so so grateful for that! This week, we played at the park, rode bikes multiple times to the river to throw rocks (Jack and David’s new favorite thing to do) and had a picnic in the warm sunshine.

• Turtle juice! Jack and David gather all of their turtle animals and they all enjoy a green smoothie together ;) Jack usually only takes a few sips but I guess it’s better than nothing! haha

• Indoor soccer - we finished our season last night and we were the opposite of undefeated (defeated. every. single. game! haha! ) but we had fun and that’s all that matters, right?! ;) I overheard a girl on the other team refer to us as the “old team” - I guess nine years out of high school makes me old!!!??? 
• David boy! He had a minor procedure done earlier this week and had to go under but he bounced back so quickly and we’re grateful for that :)

Things I'm Loving

• Celebrating Spencer’s birthday this last weekend! The weather was in the high 50s during the day (I remember it was negative 17 last year on his birthday!) and it was the first birthday of Spencer’s that we’ve spent outside together! On Saturday, Jack took Spencer to our science museum to see “Tiny Giants” in 3D - those two sure love their animal documentaries; David and I passed on it :) After the movie, we all went on a bike ride, then our babysitter came (our babysitter drives to our house! It's amazing!) while Spencer and I went out to dinner and did some birthday shopping. The highlight of the meal for me was the ginormous pizooki :) 

Sunday was Spencer’s actual birthday. We went to church, biked some more, and had dinner and cake!

Spencer requested butter cake with strawberries and whipped cream. Either my bunt pan stinks or I am the worst bunt cake maker ever - it was an ugly, but delicious cake :)

Barefoot and bubbles in February. A miracle!

• My babies in their funny sleeping positions :)

David wants to lay on my tummy when he goes down for his nap and within minutes, he is a sweaty, sleeping, slobbery, even curlier-haired hot mess. I love it :)

And I still can’t get over that he can’t get over his pink turtle. He loves it!

• THIS!!!!! haha

• Jack’s preschool teacher, who knows Jack’s love for reptiles, took him to the 3rd grade teacher’s class to see their corn snake on Tuesday. I’m pretty sure Jack asks her to take him to see that snake every single day and she must have caved this week!

• David’s love for babies, especially our friend, Brynn. We watched Brynn while we were at storytime today and David insisted on holding her basically the entire time! He was in heaven! The poor girl! haha

What's Up Wednesday (on a Friday!)

I was on the road on Wednesday so I'm linking up late with Shay, Shaefer and Mel for “What’s Up Wednesday” on Friday :)

What we're eating this week: 
I spent most of the week visiting my friend, Julie, in Kansas City and she made us delicious meals while we were there! She inspired me so I am stalking her yumprint recipes and trying to copy her :)
What I'm reminiscing about:
Jack went to his friend Eva’s birthday party today and it reminded me of her party last year when I accidentally sent Jack with a pooping dog for a present. Hahaha! We got her a non-pooping present this year ;) Here is what I posted last year:

Here is some more proof that my brain is dying - I bought this cute Barbie and puppy for Jack's friend's birthday because I saw the cute Barbie and puppy but failed to notice the "Potty Trainin' Taffy" sign or the toy dog poop or the picture of the dog pooping until the next day when I starting wrapping the dang present 15 minutes before the party!!! I am THAT crude mom who buys kids play dog poop that comes out of the dog's bum.
 
What I'm loving:
The days when we get semi-decent weather. A few days this month, we were able to go biking and play outside!



What we've been up to: 
On Sunday, I went on my first solo road trip with Jack and David (and the first road trip with our van!) and visited my high school friend, Julie, and her family who live in Kansas City. They played with us, fed us, and took us to some fun places around Kansas City. It was so nice to switch up the monotony of winter and it so nice of Julie to have us!
On Monday, it was a balmy 52 degrees and we enjoyed playing at the park for hours after visiting the trains at Union Station. Jack was so proud that he climbed up the rope to the big slide all by himself (and I was proud of myself that I climbed up with him and coached him all by myself! haha)

At the top!


On Tuesday, we went to the science museum at Union Station.


And on Wednesday, we played until it was time to head back to Iowa.

Jack and David were such good travelers! The DVD player was a game changer!

What I'm excited about:
Still Disney World! We've got months to go but I daydream about it every single day and talk about it way too much! What I'm dreading:
Spring cleaning. We really need to do some deep cleaning and organizing but I keep procrastinating!
What I'm working on:
Family Home Evening kits. Every Monday, we spend time as a family and have a small gospel lesson and activity. About a year ago, my friend convinced me to join her Family Home Evening Kit exchange group. (We exchange every other month.) Making an elaborate lesson is definitely not my thing and I don’t enjoy it, but my kids LOVE IT and it makes it worth it! They beg to do family night even when it’s not Monday now and love choosing out a kit to open. I hate the week leading up to an exchange (because I’m printing, cutting, laminating, cutting some more, and assembling and it’s so time consuming) but after the exchange, I’m pumped to do it again because I come home with everyone else’s awesome ideas and lessons! Our last exchanged was on Sunday and these are all the lessons I came home with:

Here was my 10 plus hours of labor this exchange - a lesson on music with a lot of manipulatives for hymns/primary songs:

 

 

What I'm watching/reading:

We are in a show rut again. I’m open for suggestions!
Jack, however, is OBSESSED with 72 Dangerous Animals on Netflix and it cracks me up! He is quite knowledgable in the animal department, especially the dangerous animal department :)

I failed at reading this month and only got half way through my book club book this month - it’s a spin off of Sherlock Holmes and so far, so good!

What I've been listening to:
A lot of “Watch me Whip” because David LOVES it and begs for it and dances to it! haha


What I'm wearing: 
My sister’s hand-me-downs :) I actually remembered to take an “outfit” selfie but I forgot to clean up the mess so that I could trick you into thinking that my house is clean ;) But in all honesty, this is what happens outside of the bathroom door when I get ready in the morning. #themessisDavid’sfaultnotmine ;)

What I'm doing this weekend: 
Celebrating Spencer’s birthday!!!
What I'm looking forward to next month:
Imagination Station (where my kids can meet all of the PBS Characters) and Easter!
Bonus Question: What is your favorite Easter Tradition?
We don’t have very many unique Easter traditions but I loved the rolling decorated hard boiled Easter Eggs down Old Main Hill tradition when we lived in Logan, UT. We might have to chuck some eggs down a hill this year and hopefully not get in trouble :)
What's up with you?!

This is for you, Grandma!

My grandma called today wondering why I hadn’t posted on my blog for so long - good thing I have her to keep me accountable and it's always nice to know I have a following ;)
What we’ve been up to (besides freezing and enduring the winter):

• Swimming! I love and hate taking the boys swimming because it is a lot of work but so much fun once we’re in the water! They love it!

• Mardi Gras celebrating! We don’t live in the South anymore but are lucky enough to have a friend who grew up in Louisiana. They invited us to their house for a crawfish boil and alligator jambalaya! They didn’t cook all of the crawfish and the live crawfish kept the kids entertained the entire night! haha

I told Spencer that I wanted to take a picture of his food before he ate it and this was his reaction. #heisnotaverygoodinstagramhusband

• Valentines day celebrating!
• Sushi and a free 3D movie at the science center :)

 

• Valentine’s Day packages from my parents and in-laws! Valentine’s turtles from my parents (I have no idea how my mom found turtles!) and Valentine’s thongs from my in-laws (just kidding it was a typo but we thought it was funny!)

• Valentine’s Day sugar cookie decorating
• Valentine’s Day cuddling

• Tumbling class! Jack started tumbling this month and cried the first two lessons because he said it was too hard and that it made his bones hurt! haha Yesterday went a lot better and he says he likes it now so fingers crossed!!!

• Playing in the snow! I’m ashamed to admit, but today I built my very first snowman all by myself! When I started, Jack said, “Mom, you can’t built a snowman! Only daddies can build snowmans!” (I would call him sexist but I may have used that excuse once or twice! haha) 

We walked over to our little hill afterwards and went sledding. It took Jack a while to get the hang of it and David never got the hang of it! He preferred that I just pulled him on the flat snow :)

I love these boys! We had fun in the snow but now we are ready for summer ;)

Friday Favorites

 Today, I'm linking up with Narci, Erika and Andrea and sharing some of my favorite things from this week. 

•  Visiting Spencer at work for lunch!

• These turtle loving boys - my friend knows their love for turtles so she gave David her son’s old turtle back pack. David is thrilled to have a turtle back pack like his brother and proudly wears it to drop Jack off at school :)

• Fort building because it keeps them entertained for a very long time…

… Just not when they knock each other’s forts down and start hitting each other. Here they are in timeout. 

• Art class (I only keep talking about art class and posting pictures so that I can throw these projects away and not feel guilty - so sorry, these pictures posted are for me ;) I thought it was sweet that the teacher added a turtle project to the bug themed class (she also knows about the turtle obsession - Jack makes sure that everyone knows about his turtle obsession ;)

• Picking out Valentine’s Cards! Jack chose sharks and David chose Paw Patrol - they are so predictable :) Jack is really excited to send them to his family and to Crush and Donald Duck :)