Prime Day, Kohl's Cares and Let's Sale Away

It's Prime Day! Which is just about one of my favorite holidays of the non-holiday variety. 

Amazon and I are thick as thieves or whatever you call total and utter shopping loyalty from a customer who they don't know from Adam.

Anyway, there are some wonderful deals to be had. I already got some headphones for the kid's Kindles for the upcoming trip at a good price so that's fun. I didn't see any toys that sparked my interest much so I guess this will not be a repeat of using Prime Day to get ahead of the birthday/Christmas shopping.

There are some good children's books to be had including a whole bunch of Mo Willems books which you know I support.

But guess what friends?! Kohl's Cares currently is featuring Mo Willems!

They have Knuffle Bunny, Pigeon, Duckling, Elephant and Piggie stuffies for only $5 with the total price going to charity. They also have a good selection of books available, but we have all the ones offered. (Well we have the big version of the activity book but same thing really.)

Guess who came to live at our house? I am the most excited about Elephant and Piggie because the only other ones on the market are $20 and they are a pair and tiny. Then we had to get a big Pigeon because now with the Duckling we have they are size appropriate instead of being the same size. At least that is my justification for the reason we now have three in our house. I mean, it was for charity. Obviously.

ALSO today through Thursday there is a super duper Scentsy sale. Alligning with Prime Day by accident? Doubtful. It starts at 1:00 EST/Noon CST and if you're interested I would love for you to be a customer of mine. You can shop here! 

A Heck of a Weekend

Sometimes you just need to have a solid weekend. Just the run of the mill fun weekend.

And that is what we had.

Friday night, Husband and I finished the last bit of Grey's Anatomy season 13 which was INTENSE. I think the most nerve wracking episodes I've even seen. They were just, realistically awful, in a way that made them possible. This is why we don't follow the show in real time, too intense to take a week or more between episodes.

Saturday morning brought sleeping in. For me. Let's not get crazy my kids have a healthy does of this disease:

We played outside in the morning and Husband cut the lawn. (We were safely on the porch reading a story and singing some songs when he did the backyard, don't worry!) After a delicious lunch and the reading of some I Spy books it was time to get ready for the birthday party.

We dropped C off and then we headed out for some special two-on-one time with our girl! We first hit the frozen yogurt shop.

She picked cookies and cream flavor with sprinkles, a brownie chunk, some gummy bears and chocolate chips. She loved it. This particular shop has games on all the table and our table had Frozen Trouble. We didn't play but she popped the die and moved the pieces a few times. 

Then we went to the park. Which we absolutely did. But we took the extremely long way and took a 40 minute drive to get there. Part of it on the highway to encourage a little bit of a car nap. It was successful and then we went to play! 

It was a new to us park and it was wonderful. Quiet and beautiful, with brand new equipment and then with some luck we were the only ones there! 

After we picked up C we realized the baseball tickets we had for the night were a lot closer to home plate than we realized, and also that our kids were too overtired, overstimulated etc for such an experience to be any fun at all. So we had a pizza party and watched The Emperor's New Groove. Which was just the ticket. 

Sunday brought an easy morning of cleaning up the playroom and a heavy snack for the kids before Mass. We were hoping it would help the behavior of our resident two-year-old. But she seemed to derive power from it and it was the worst she's been in a while and lost her playground playtime privileges afterwards. That didn't go over well and she went right to bed when we got home and slept for 2.5 hours. 

During that time, the rest of us had lunch and the boys went grocery shopping. They got all the ingredients to make this dip which was just as delicious as Kathryn promised.  Though it really doesn't need the coconut. I love coconut, Husband doesn't and I put it in anyway. But I don't think I would again. 

After some fun play time we went out to a local burger joint for an early dinner then we came home and ate fruit and our dip. It was a party! 

All I was missing was dancing around to this song with a margarita or pina colada drink too, which... hind sight. 

We read some books including some new ones Grandma and Grandpa sent. Husband went and took this picture of us reading a book from the Easter/Spring book basket that is still rocking it in my living room. #reallife I never switched it out for summer books... oops. Then posted it to Instagram without me knwing. But it's cute even if I am wearing a princess crown... because 

I was a pineapple princess like the Annette Funicello song...

Then when it was time for pajamas C put on this little get up which rocked my world. 

His Vikings pajamas with the hat?! I died it was so cute. What a sweet heart. After our kids went to bed we watched two episodes of The Great British Bake Off and loved every second. 

It was everything a weekend should be. I hope yours was as wonderful!

Outings!

Yesterday we visited a local park with a splash area for the kids. We met some of our good friends for some play time. I didn't take any pictures but it looks like this:

It wasn't that crowded though and the blasts weren't nearly so high. The kids had so much fun and then Husband brought us some lunch right to the park. It was a good outing and the perfect summer fun. I will definitely take my kids to more splash pads this summer, I had been hesitant about them in the past but now having seen it in action, I am not so worried about M. She was really able to hold her own and also use her listening ears.

This morning we went to the zoo. We have a membership in a bundle with the other museums and botanical center around us but somehow haven't made it to the zoo in 2017. It was really really crowded today and I am not sure why. So we just did the basics with a promise to come back really soon.

The tortoise is new this year and C LOVED it. M LOVES the giraffes so pretty much this right here was the highlight. 

It was nice to have another outing. I still stress over outings but I really shouldn't because they've been going so smoothly. Sometimes I forget I don't have two kids under three. 

Tomorrow C has a birthday party for the two boys we saw yesterday. It's at the YMCA and they are going to swim. During the party M is going to get some alone time with her parents which... literally never happens. I don't even know if it has ever happened that we've had her alone. We are going to get frozen yogurt and maybe go play at a park. It might rain though so we'll have to come up with some back up plans. 

Have a glorious weekend! 

Super Fun Grandma and Grandpa Weekend and the 4th of July

My parents came to visit this past weekend.

And we did all the things. We had made a list of all the fin things possible for them to choose from with some options for food as well.

My dad took C fishing per the agreement they've had for months. It was super exciting and though it didn't last too long they seemed to have a good time. The worms being the biggest hit because 5-year-old boy. We did talk about how a lot of the times one doesn't catch a fish, which was good because they certainly didn't.

We all went out to dinner, went to the skybridge because my mom had never been there and then out for ice cream. That night for pajamas they wore their coordinating Black Bear, Brown Bear Gummy Bear shirts. M's was new but C has had his for a while. My dad gets them on his big fishing trip to way way up north MN/Canada.

Fun fact: my dad loves to go grocery shopping. Another fun fact: he takes my kids grocery shopping every time he comes into town. This time, my parents took the kids and let them use mini-carts. It was an enjoyable experience for everyone. Husband and I spent some time alone together in our house. (We cleaned out the pantry because we correctly assumed they would come home with stuff to fill it up.) 

After making the hot dogs and brat lunch they picked out at the store, we went to the family museum. My parents had never been there with the kids and they enjoyed seeing the kids in their element. We spent about two hours playing and showing them around. It was the most relaxing trip I've had in a long time. 3 adults to 2 kids? That's glorious. 

The Sid the Science Kid exhibit is in town and it is amazing. We love to watch that show and the attention to detail in the exhibit was just extraordinary. I am so impressed and cannot wait to go back. They even had a car that plays the "my mom is cool" song so... that was easily my favorite part. 

The rest of their trip was spent having fun at our house. No one was super happy for them to leave but that's how visits work. The rest of Monday became potty training boot camp for M. Some progress was made. She at least has earned the right to wear undies some of the time... but she is a stubborn one my girl is. 

Yesterday was obviously the 4th of July. We celebrated by doing next to nothing. Which is my favorite kind of day. We had red, white and blue food with every meal. Husband made fireworks pancakes for breakfast. We had bomb pops with our lunch. And we made another flag poke cake for dessert after our cheeseburger dinner. 

Keeping with our tradition, we watched fireworks on TV and the kids got glow sticks. This was even more fun this year than it was last year. I tried while we were waiting to get the kids to watch the Disney World fireworks but they just wanted to dance to the music. The Macy's Fireworks concert thing on NBC is apparently the tradition my kids love. After the TV fireworks were over, we went to bed. 9:00 is still staying up late and they had fun, but the local fireworks hadn't even started. Plus no bugs or crowds so I feel like I win and the tradition isn't going to die for a long time. 

I hope however you celebrated you had a happy and safe holiday! 

7QT Weekly Wrap Up

1. We made it to the end of VBS! Here's the thing, I am so thankful that my acquaintance asked me to volunteer. I definitely would not have without being directly asked. I wasn't even going to send C to be honest. (He was supposed to go to day camp this week.) But it was good. C loved it. I feel more engaged in our school and parish and I met some great people. Plus we have to either volunteer 20 hours or pay $200 to our home and school association... and I got all my hours in in one week. I am tired but it was totally worth it. M loved going to babysitting too. Total win/win/win/win. I will not however miss wearing this green shirt every day.

A C got a VERY bright neon yellow shirt. Like highlighter yellow. This photo does not do it justice. Everyone loves pajama shirts. 

2. To celebrate a fantastic end to the week we had McDonald's for lunch. Despicable Me 3 is in theaters today! So Happy Meals have minion toys. Which my kids are all about. Plus... Coke with no ice for me. Much deserved and beloved after a long week.

3. My parents are coming to town this weekend which is exciting but also since we have been go go go for the last few weeks solid there's a lot of cleaning to do in preparation. We can do it!

4. The Hamilton Instrumentals were released today. All the heart eye emoijis because yes. Burn is so beautiful! I also didn't realize there is a clean version of the soundtrack either. So if you were curious but the swearing was putting you off... try that one out.

5. C has really really turned the corner on reading. It's crazy. He can now read all the BOB books in stage one. We finished Kindergarten sight words today during quiet time.

He can usually get through 5 or 6 books at a time before his stamina for reading gives out. I can always tell when he's hit his capacity for reading when he stops paying attention to the vowels and run/ran or get/got all become the same thing. He loves the flash cards that came with this box. He likes to build his own stories from them. They don't make sense but whatever. He's 5. 

I should add that it is his stamina for him reading me the stories out loud. He would listen to stories all the live long day if that were an option. And he also likes narrating his own stories summary style. It's just the reading the actual words that gets him tired out right now. 

6. The other day I drew a picture and he asked if he could add some words. So he did. Then he said, "I love this. I am the author and you are the illustrator." So funny. This kid. VBS gave me some interesting insight into how he interacts at school. He is just stone faced unless he is overwhelmingly excited. He doesn't like to participate much. But he drinks it all in. We played VBS almost every day when we got home, and he's spouting off bible memory buddies and sayings. Super cute. But you'd never know that by watching him while he's there. 

Yesterday at dinner he made Minnesota with his pizza. He cracks me up. 

7. And that's really all I know. Have a happy safe weekend! 

VBS Goings On

Greetings from the midst of the Maker Fun Factory VBS Week.

It's been a wild ride.

I have learned that I can drum up my camp counselor persona like it wasn't seven years ago I last used that skill. I have also learned that being in charge of five preschoolers is a lot more demanding seven years later. Ha! We used to have a team of three for 20 kids so I should be used to this. Oh well. Of course I am older and wiser.

There are many things to say both positive and negative about this experience but ultimately I am glad to get my volunteer hours in a positive way where I can meet people.

And I may be singing/dreaming/breathing this song for the foreseeable future.

See you on the other side. Friday at noon is going to come fast and slow all at the same time.

Family Fun Weekend?

So we are kind of on a roll with packing in the summer adventures. If you recall, you may not, that's okay because I am about to tell you, last weekend we saw A Year With Frog and Toad locally and then Husband and C went to see The Little Mermaid on Father's Day. Monday we went strawberry picking. All week we had swim lessons and Thursday Husband had a day trip for work.

Friday brought some more fun with our annual night in the baseball suite. We do this every year. It could be considered a tradition but it is just a perk of the job we wouldn't continue doing otherwise so... not a tradition. 

Because it was a Friday our ball park has fireworks after the game. Last year we left after the seventh inning stretch and it was like 8:15. So we figured we would stay for the fireworks. We haven't actually taken the kids to fireworks before and we figured we should do a test run before Disney. Suffice it to say that plan backfired on us. LONGEST GAME EVER. And then in the top of the ninth, the other team rallied to 6-7 and I told the kids if we went to extra innings we would not be staying. But the home team won and we saw the fireworks. 

Yesterday one of Husband's cousins got married so we went and did the whole wedding thing. It was about an hour and twenty minutes away so luckily we didn't have to stay the night. It was a pretty fun wedding and my kids looked cute even if only one would look at the phone. 

At the reception, C was channeling Dear Evan Hansen with the wedding favor coozie. It made me laugh. 

When the we decided we were good to go (we waited for the first relatives to leave then waited a half hour longer) we changed the kids into pajamas and headed back for home. 20 minutes later we had planned to stop at Hurt's Donuts for a special treat. They have a serious reputation and I had never been there. Usually when we drive through that town we are just trying to get home, but it was a little more leisurely yesterday. The kids were still awake so we brought them in and bought super interesting and overly sugary donuts. 

I will say that I love they are open 25/8 (their words) and make interesting donuts. The kids loved the cookie monster ones and the raised struesel is my new favorite donut ever. Some of the others like Cotton Candy, Cereal Killer and Dirt Worm look cool but are just whatever. 

Today was the most perfect day. 70 degrees and sunny. We had a special lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings, an outing to Michael's and then we stopped at got Coldstone. We have never taken the kids there but I have wanted to for a long time. They loved it. And we walked in and no one was there. Even the employees were in the back area. I have never been were I haven't had to wait. It was kind of exciting for the people who came in after us to wait for us. And bonus! The even had banana ice cream. Coldstone banana ice cream is the best. 

And also this morning at church I picked up my shirt for tomorrow and all week because it's VBS week and somehow I volunteered to be a Preschool Crew Leader! So bright and early tomorrow I will be rocking my green shirt, M will go to babysitting and C will be in another crew at VBS. Pray for me! 

So this week looks to be another fun week heading into another fun weekend... we're just go go go I guess. But it's so fun to live life with my family and make those memories!