Brown Eyed Kiddos

The boys are on Fall break all week so we decided to kick off their break by heading to our local Pumpkin Patch. The weather was really warm and it was just a beautiful Fall day. The kiddos got to explore the entire farm. They looked at all different types of pumpkins, seen chickens, pigs, and alpacas. They had a hayride and a barrel train. We ended our fun by completing a corn maze which was the boy’s favorite thing! They could have stayed hours walking around the maze if we let them.

Overall we had a fun-filled Fall day! The kids are already asking when we can go back. They offer a few other activities later in the month that were not available the day we went so we might just have to go back one more time!

Here are a few more things we plan to check off our Fall bucket list…
Paint pumpkins, jump in piles of leaves, drink hot cider outside one evening, and watch all the festive, classic Halloween movies. What’s on your Fall bucket list this year?

I hope you had a wonderful Fall weekend! XO

Happy Monday, friends! We had a quiet weekend filled with yummy food. We ate festive mini pumpkin waffles for breakfast, using this little mini waffle maker. We made an apple pie that we ate throughout the weekend and honestly just lounged around. It was smoky on Saturday but cleared by the evening.

Sunday, we did get outside and blow off some built-up energy. The weather is so beautiful right now. It was a bit cooler on Sunday giving, it a real Fall feeling with leaves starting to fall from our trees. It’s very nice to just sit outside when there is a slight cool breeze and listen to the leaves rustling, it’s so peaceful.

This week consists of getting flu shots for the kiddos, organizing a few areas of our house, and its the last week of school for the boys before Fall break next week. Hopefully, planning to take the kiddos to a pumpkin patch in our area over their Fall break (fingers crossed there is one that will be open).

Apple Pie Filling / Kitchen Towels / Jasmine’s Vest and Candy Corn long sleeve shirt

I hope you had a great weekend! XO

Happy Friday friends! I hope you had a great week. Today marks the boys’ second full week of being able to go to school all five days without any air quality cancellations etc. We are so thankful and blessed that our skies are blue and clear. However, still praying for everyone who has been directly affected by the fires here on the West Coast. It has been truly devastating the amount of loss that has happened. We are very thankful for the hardworking firefighters during this time.

We are having the most amazing weather, every opportunity to be outside we take it. We have been going to the soccer field by our house and letting the kids run around in the evenings, walking the boys to school, and spending plenty of time in our backyard. This time of year is so nice to be out in. I hope it lasts all through the end of September and all of October. Also, how is it already October next week??!!!

Well, Jasmine and I have prepared a whole chicken for dinner this evening, possibly an apple pie (not homemade, but I think a close runner up, I will keep you posted on how it turns out and what filling I used). So we are ready for the weekend and plan on hanging outside as much as possible.

Jasmine’s Fall things Long Sleeve t-shirt / Apples, Hayrides, and Pumpkin Hanging Wall Sign

I hope you have an amazing weekend! XO

Happy Fall friends! I received my favorite issue of Martha’s Living magazine a few days ago in the mail and have been flipping through her Fall inspirations over and over. Her magazines always are motivating to me to make yummy Fall recipes or try a new way to decorate with pumpkins. Also, before flipping through my favorite magazine I love to create a delicious Fall bomb scent to put in the diffuser and create the dreamiest Fall scents EVER. My favorite right now is cinnamon bark, nutmeg, clove, ginger, and orange. I put a few drops of each and enjoy!

I am currently reading Alice Hoffman’s The Rules of Magic. It has been on my reading list for a while and it has such a Fall vibe that I thought it was in order. I am almost done with it so will be looking for a few good Fall reads. What are your favorite books to read in the Fall? I think I might read a thriller next, maybe Ruth Ware’s newest.

Since today is officially Fall it was a must to do some crafting. Jasmine and I walked the boys to school today and strolled back home and got started. She loves to paint and is getting pretty good with her coloring. There is a nice breeze in the air today so we’re going to head outside and gather a few leaves for our next craft.

Cheers to it being officially Fall!!! XO

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Our weekend was filled with blue skies, a lot of outside time, and decorating with pumpkins. It is the small things. The boys had distance learning all last week and we could only go outside for necessary activities because it was so smoky. So the minute we saw the smoke clear we put our shoes on and couldn’t get out the door quick enough. I can’t tell you how much we needed to get out of the house and take in the fresh air. Truly nothing better.

With Fall officially hitting the calendar this week I always feel Fall starts the minute I get my hands on a few pumpkins. Also, our mums are starting to bloom which makes me so happy. I’m just hoping they survive Jasmine. She loves to pick all the flowers off.

We packed our pool away this weekend and even though it is always sad to put it away the changing of seasons feels nice.

I hope you have a festive Fall week my friends! XO

The kiddos ended up having distance learning on Friday so our weekend kicked off slightly earlier than if they went in-person. The boys are both done with school around 2:30 when they have distance learning days (which has not gotten any easier on any of us so far). The smoke in our area has caused us to have to stay inside all weekend and is the reason why the kiddos are not able to go to school. Being stuck inside with three active kiddos gets challenging to say the least.

We decided to kick off our Fall baking season with some yummy cupcakes with sprinkles. The kiddos love to sneak sprinkles or swipe some frosting, hence their little hands in almost every picture!

We also decided it was time to gather all of our Fall books. We read books, ate cupcakes, and the kiddos puzzled with this creative shape puzzle that got delivered Saturday evening when we all needed a fresh activity. The kiddos sat at the kitchen table and played with this puzzle while we watched hockey for a few hours.

Fall Books

In the Middle of Fall / Pumpkin Pie / Because of an Acorn / How Big Could your Pumpkin Grow? / Too Many Pumpkins

I hope you have a great week! XO

Happy September friends! I can’t believe we are in September to be completely honest. We have been navigating through the start of school and seasons changing. The kiddos completed their first full week of school last week. We have had unhealthy air quality on and off due to fires that are in our area so school has been canceled when the air quality is in the unhealthy range. When that occurs our district will make it a full distance learning day. Let me tell you this is not an easy thing to execute. Jonathan will be on several zoom calls throughout the day, Jordan’s teacher will send an assignment email with things for us to complete and then he will jump on a short zoom meeting in the afternoon to listen to a story read by his teacher, etc. I am running up and down the stairs helping Jonathan occasionally, assisting Jordan, and trying to take care of Jasmine and keep her somewhat quiet so the boys can complete their work. Overall it is a struggle, but we will make it through.

One thing that is so important for me when the boys have distance learning days is to have activities prepared for Jasmine. She loves to paint, glue, play with playdough, and sort noodles just to name a few of our go-to activities. With Fall approaching (which we had a high of 75 yesterday and felt all the Fall vibes) there are so many fun crafts to do. Collecting leaves, pine-cones, and painting them or placing the leaves into books so that you can make a pretty picture once they have been pressed. Also, Pinterest is a great resource to get activities.

Awesome Autumn Book / Pumpkin Garland old from target (similar here)

We are very excited for Fall and can’t wait to get to wear cozy sweatshirts, drink apple cider, pick out pumpkins to decorate our porch, and watch all the Fall/Halloween movies! I hope you have the best week! XO

Back to school. First, let me backtrack a few months to when everyone was first in quarantine and Jonathan had to finish up his 4th-grade year doing distance learning. We didn’t know what to expect honestly when Jonathan had his first zoom meeting with his teacher and classmates. He was required to meet on zoom twice a week for about an hour. It was nice for Jonathan to see his classmates and teacher. The zoom meetings consisted of his teacher checking in on everyone and they did some fun activities (scavenger hunts around the house, science project with celery, egg drop from the highest point of your home were a few that I remembered). Also, our district sent out monthly homework packets that had assignments that the students were to complete each week. It was very standard work and it honestly did not challenge Jonathan enough. Overall Jonathan struggled with distance learning. It wasn’t the work, but just the distractions in our home (little siblings, etc.). I believe our teachers tried their best given the circumstances of switching to distance learning when they were not prepared at all to do so. It was a learning experience for all and we appreciate the dedication that the teachers put in during that challenging time.

So fast-forwarding to August we were updated with our district’s reopening plan for the 2020-2021 school year and they planned to offer parents full distance learning, in-person learning, five days a week for Elementary students and hybrid models for Middle School and High School students. Knowing we would have two students in Elementary school this year and our experience with distance learning from the Spring as a family we felt comfortable with the requirements that our district put in place for in-person learning to send both our boys this year. It was not an easy decision and I can assure you I switched from the boys should go to school to let’s do distance learning more than a few times before school started. Just to give you some insight on what our district is implementing for in-person learning is all students and staff have to wear face masks (unless at lunchtime or you have a medical condition that prevents you from wearing a face covering), social distancing is practiced (3 to 6 ft apart in the classroom at all time), and the kiddos can’t play on any school equipment at recess time. Washing hands often and sanitizing the classrooms thoroughly throughout the day. Lastly, all kids eat in their designated classrooms. They are trying to keep each class in cohorts so if any outbreaks do occur they can hopefully just have that class shut down instead of the entire school. Parents are also required to self screen their kiddos before sending them to school each day. So given all these things stated above I was unsure on how the kiddos felt about heading to school knowing they couldn’t play on the playground at recess, had to wear masks all day, but the first couple of days that I picked up the boys they were so happy to be around their friends, teachers, and back in the classroom. Jonathan came home so excited and full of enthusiasm for his new teacher. I knew right when I heard the excitement in his voice that we made the right decision for now. Jordan is also so excited to be in Kindergarten and he loves his teacher (which was Jonathan’s Kindergarten teacher that we loved). We are certainly taking it day by day and are prepared to switch to distance learning if necessary (fingers crossed that it doesn’t come to that).

I would love to hear what your school plans are for this year, whatever that may look like for you and your family I am wishing you all the best! XO

The boys have officially gone back to school and our Summer days are wrapping up (updated post will be coming soon on back to school). With the kiddos being at home for almost six months straight it seems like we have been on Summer break since Spring break, but reflecting on the past six months it seems like it flew by. It is a strange concept of time to reflect upon. Anyways, we are savoring the last bit of Summer and hanging out in the backyard a little longer each evening before the warm evenings turn to cool, crisp fall nights (which I am secretly waiting for).

The kiddos jumped rope daily (which we still plan on learning to double-dutch), swam, rode bikes, made countless forts, built epic Lego battles, and ate tons of ice cream cones this summer. Even though we didn’t get to go on any awesome vacations we had a great time at home. I will cherish this time forever and the Summer of 2020 will be filed under the strangest Summer EVER!

I hope you have a wonderful week! XO

Hi friends! Our weekend was filled with good weather, yummy food, and lots of swimming. Even though Saturday morning we woke up to ants crawling by our front door and many on our rug. Jasmine spotted them and she was determined to squish them all. So it was operation spray, clean, and spray again to get rid of the ants. Also, that day my coffee maker decided it was done making me my coffee for good. So it started a little rocky, but we turned it around.

This fourth of July felt strange this year. Yes, we are living during a pandemic, but there are so many other really important issues happening. I am very thankful to those that have served in the military and fought for our freedom, but we have an extremely long way to go for everyone to feel the benefits of freedom.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! XO