Brown Eyed Kiddos

Happy Wednesday! With every changing season, I always try to add a few new books to our collection. I have to admit that fall / Halloween books are my favorite to pick out. The kiddos always look forward to seeing new books on their bookshelves. It’s so much fun to read to Jordan and Jasmine and talk about the similarities from the books to what is happening in our current weather and environment. I love when we are driving around from either picking up Jonathan from school or heading to the grocery store and a discussion starts about the leaves changing colors and how its getting cooler in the mornings because the season has changed.

The other night we were at Jonathan’s soccer practice and Jordan was looking around a tree and he ran over to me with such urgency that I thought he was hurt, but come to find out he showed me all the acorns he found and he was able to recognize them from our book, Because of an Acorn. He filled his pockets with them and thought it was the coolest thing that he found an acorn. The next day we examined them and he colored some pictures and practiced his writing.

I just finished reading You’ve Been Volunteered which was so cute! It is the follow up to Class Mom. It was a light, relatable and funny read. I have a few books that are on my fall reading list which include In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware. I have read a few of her other books and enjoy reading thrillers in the fall. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is another book that has caught my eye. I love to curl up after the kiddos have gone to sleep, make some tea, and escape into a good read before bed. What is on your fall reading list this year?

Cozy Autumn Colors/ Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn/ Leaf Man

Fletcher and the Falling Leaves/ Because of an Acorn/ Fall Mixed Up

I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday, only two more days until the weekend, yay!

Happy Fall! I am beyond excited that everything fall-related is acceptable now since fall is officially here! A little recap of our weekend, which was pretty busy. My best friend came to visit and the kiddos were so happy and of course, we had soccer. Also, our pool is completely drained and put away. That is always such a time-consuming task so it’s nice that it’s done.

Jasmine and I dropped the boys off at school and came home and made homemade playdough. Our playdough supply needed a boost so I thought it would be fun to make fall colored and scented playdough. I always use this recipe, but this time I added  (powder food coloring which I added it to the water so we didn’t have to stain our hands, not sure why I never thought of that before, ha) pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon so our playdough would smell just as yummy as it looks. Jordan will be so happy when he comes home that he gets to play with fresh playdough. Playdough is a big hit around here. There are so many great recipes that you can find one that suits your preference.

I hope you are enjoying the first few days of fall! I will share our fall books and bucket list later this week. Who is watching This is Us tonight???!!!

We’ve had some beautiful Fall-ish September days here so far. The weather has been a bit extreme with either an 89-degree day or a high of 56 with rain, but both have been pleasantly nice. September and October are two of my favorite months of the year. I am not one that craves everything pumpkin spice, but I am that one that has to have pumpkins immediately upon them hitting the stores. I love to put them inside, outside, and well let’s just say in every room is a safe description.

Another reason I am obsessed with fall is all the warm, cozy colors all around. The leaves are first and for most, but cozy flannels and blankets are a must. I am also loving all these fall nail polish colors for this season. I don’t normally keep my nails painted, but I just love these warm tones paired with a cozy sweater and boots, yes, please!

I have been drinking a cup of warm chai tea in the afternoon on the cooler days and scanning through my favorite month of the Living magazine of the year. Martha knows how to do Halloween and I am all in. I love to look through her older magazines for fall inspiration.

We have soccer games this week, flu shots, and plan on draining our pool. Only five more days until fall officially, yay!!! Have a great Wednesday!

This past weekend I completely felt fall all around us. So, of course, it prompted me to put a few fall decorations up. I love fall garlands and this one is seriously so cute and I always have to snag a few new fall scented candles. I also found these mini fabric pumpkins which have become Jasmine’s new favorite thing to take off the table and stuff in any bag that she can get her hands on and off and away they all go.

It has been nice to have cooler mornings since we spent half the day on Saturday at the soccer fields for the boys. Jonathan’s team is doing very well and are undefeated so far this season. He had three goals and one assist. Jordan is still trying to get the feel for the soccer games since this is his first year. In his age division, they don’t have any goalies and they give the kids a lot of freedom if the ball goes out of play they will generally tell them to keep playing so that there aren’t a million stops throughout the game.

Sunday was a rest day for us. We did take the kiddos to a local park to run around for a bit. When we came home I whipped up our favorite fall mix. We love popcorn around here and it’s fun to create a special mix with a few of our favorite treats. Jordan couldn’t keep his little hands out of the candy corn, which I can’t blame him! You can substitute and add additional items to your liking. This just happens to be a favorite for us!

I hope you have a wonderful start to your week!

Yay! We have made it through another week of school and routine. I’m so happy it’s the weekend and a three day one at that! We don’t have any soccer this weekend so that is a nice break. We plan on hanging outside, swimming (since our days of fun in the sun are numbered), and grilling.

Jasmine and I whipped up some chocolate chip peanut butter cookie bars for the weekend. I used this recipe. I seriously love all of her recipes and can’t wait to try more! Anyway, these are sooooo good! I don’t think they are going to last through the weekend. I substituted the semi-sweet chocolate chips with dark chocolate. I am a sucker for peanut butter and dark chocolate. The kiddos loved them as well and requested I pack them in their lunches everyday! And below are a few pictures of Jasmine Eve.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Hello!!!! I have been absent for a while on here and decided to resurface. Sometimes breaks are just what we need to feel rejuvenated and inspired (insert pointing finger at me)! I wanted to enjoy this Summer with the kiddos because I knew things would change once the new school year started.

Let’s rewind to our Summer. We had the greatest, most relaxing, fun-filled Summer EVER! We loved the days of not having to get up until we woke up on our own, staying in our pajamas all day with no regrets, and hanging out in our backyard and swimming several times a day. We also adventured to Las Vegas and Canada to visit family that we hadn’t seen in WAY too long. We had the best time exploring Las Vegas and was surprised at how many kid-friendly activities Vegas has to offer. Canada was one for the books. Jordan and Jasmine got to meet their Grandpa, Grandma, Auntie, and cousins for the first time. Jonathan got to reunite with them and was so sad to have to come home. We took the kiddos to the parks and swimming pool that my husband grew up at. It was just a very special visit for us all (thank you Canada family for hosting us and creating life-lasting memories).

And here we are heading into week three of school for the year. Jonathan is in 4th grade this year which completely blows my mind. He likes his teacher and thinks this year will be fun, but challenging. Jordan started Preschool and I am still trying to come to grips with how this happened. He LOVES it and wants to go every day. For now, we are just sending him twice a week. We wanted to see how he adjusted being away from us and get him socializing with kids his age so that he will be ready for Kindergarten next year. It makes me so happy to see him enjoying his teacher, classroom and making new friends. He also is doing soccer this Fall and has had two games so far. We are completely back in the swing of things with school and soccer almost every night of the week, games on the weekends, and not much time to breathe in between.

So this is where we are at currently. Thank goodness Jasmine is still here at home with me all the time. She misses her brothers terribly but it’s nice to have the one on one time with her. She loves to tag along on all the car rides, soccer practices and it will only be a short time before she will be heading to preschool. I am truly cherishing all of these busy days and trying to make time to laugh and smile and appreciate the small things that occur throughout our days. It’s easy to get swept up into the bigger picture or think ahead about all of the daily tasks that need to be done, but taking a moment to stop and listen to the kids laughing hysterically about something, hearing Jonathan and Jordan talking before bed, and watching Jasmine dancing around the house and making us all laugh. These are the days, the BEST days!

Happy Hump Day!

Happy Fourth of July! I can’t believe that the Fourth has come and gone. This Summer is going by a bit too quickly, but we have travel plans to look forward to and still plenty of Summer days and nights to hang in the backyard.

Our Fourth was filled with hanging in our backyard, eating yummy foods, and playing baseball. I don’t know what it is about July 4th, but we always play hours of baseball. I think it is the movie Sandlot that inspires us. My husband had to work all day so it was just me and the kiddos. We are always so exhausted by the end of the night that we never get to make it to the fireworks. Plus the thought of packing up the kiddos and heading downtown, finding parking, and dealing with tired kiddos after a long day seems unthinkable, maybe next year we will brave it.

I try to incorporate fun and festive activities around Holidays. Jazzy girl and I painted our toes red and she was so good about letting her toes dry. This was the first time I painted her toes, but I have the feeling it will not be the last. Once they dried she was eager to show her big brothers her toes. The boys were very interested and even requested that I paint theirs.

We ate countless popsicles throughout the day, I grilled some hot links, made this corn, tomato, and avocado pasta salad recipe. I am obsessed with her blog and Instagram account. If you are looking for inspiration in the kitchen she is your girl.  I can’t wait to try more of her recipes.

We are so grateful for our freedom and truly are blessed, Happy Birthday America! I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July.