Friday Faves

Happy Friday!  I hope July is treating you well.  We're squeezing in all the fun things.

Let me recap our favorite moments so far this month.

We are doing things that we don't usually have time for during the school year - like a late breakfast at one of our favorite donut shop.  It's the cutest and the donuts are the best.  It's also my favorite when Leo grabs his siblings and tells me to take their picture.  Mom win!

Lemon, s'mores and carnival donuts.

My BFFs came in town with their sons for the day.  We met them at our favorite donut shop again and then had the best time showing them some of our favorite spots around town.

We grabbed an afternoon iced coffee from Fletcher's friend's coffee shop as the kids played.

We wore them out!

Leo said, Let me sit by my beautiful mama! one morning and made my day.  I love slow days at home in our pjs.

Mr. Mittens has claimed a new perch.  One where his rascally sisters cannot reach him.  I've been working really hard at home to declutter everything and it feels so good.

I've been in a good walking routine this Summer and when it gets HOT, I head to the treadmill.  Leo loves to be close so he plays with his toys right next to me as I walk.

My zinnia seeds sprouted and I'm getting the prettiest flowers!

I was just saying that I was sad to not see many butterflies this year since I planted far fewer flowers than usual.  I looked out my window later that day and look what I saw visiting my pretty flowers!

My parents came over for dinner and brought their puppy.  Hardy was so happy to see us, but playing sure wears a puppy out.

We dropped off treats to Kevin's Grandma.  We chatted all about our cruise and she told us about some of her travel adventures.

We stopped by the library to check out a big stack of books for each kid.

We went on a road trip to Santa Claus, IN to spend the day with my parents.  Leo was so excited to hop out of the car and find a big turtle waiting for us.

Cute Hardy.

We had to keep an eye on this busy guy.

I hosted book club this month.  We read Beach Read by Emily Henry.  We all enjoyed it and I made cookie bars for everyone.  We rotate meeting at different local restaurants.

Prime Time impressed us all!  This salad was delicious.  I'm still dreaming of those onion straws and soft pretzel.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Happy Birthday, Kevin!

My favorite guy turns 44 today!

Kevin brings the fun to our family.  He plans all of our trips, makes sure that I'm the passenger princess and is always looking out for us.  He loves a good deal and is great at finding hidden gems.  He could survive on trail mix, protein bars and coffee.  He's doing big things at work and making sure we are all doing great things at home.  He takes care of all the important paperwork, is our tech support, builder of all the things and loves a delicious dinner at home.  He's the one who leads bedtime devotions and always has his nose in a book.  We're thankful for him!

Olive loves to play volleyball with Dad.

Fletcher loves to go backyard camping and shoot airsoft guns with Dad.

Leo is so sporty and so silly - just like his Dad.

We celebrated with Kevin's family earlier this week - burgers, homemade cake and his favorite people.

Leo was present, just did not want to quit playing with cousins long enough for a family photo.

Wishing him a wonderful year ahead!

4th of July

I hope you had a Happy 4th of July weekend!  We packed in as much red, white and blue all week long.  I baked a ton, we saw lots of friends and Kevin bought lots of fireworks for our neighborhood show.

I made the yummiest fruit pizza bar for my family.  We picked blackberries in the backyard.  I bought sugar cookie dough from the store and we baked the cookies into rectangles.  The kids topped their cookies with vanilla pudding, cool whip or nutella and then topped with berries.

Yum!  My crew doesn't LOVE fruit pizza so these small pizza flags were perfect.

We made red, white and blueberry pancakes on the 4th.  Note to self - It's harder than you think to make pancake letters.

I had some cookie bar orders.  I baked for that and then delivered patriotic cookie bars to friends.

Kevin took all the kids fireworks shopping a time or two to get the best fireworks for our neighbors.  We grilled out, had friends over for fireworks and had a great weekend!  I don't love that we're halfway through Summer, but we're determined to have as much fun as possible in July.

Olive did fancy nails.

I love a holiday table!

Fireworks show ready to go!  Olive lined the whole show up from start to finish.

The trees and the kids have both grown so much this year!

Another great 4th in the books!

Easy Summer Pico

This is my #1 favorite addition to taco night.  I try to make it about an hour before dinner, chill it and then serve with chips and tacos.  Kevin and I love it.  I try to make it for Taco Tuesdays.  It is also the perfect summer appetizer.

I'll list out the ingredients and then you can adjust to make it for a crowd of any size.

Chop everything tiny.

Bite sized tomatoes all colors

Sweet peppers any color

green onions

purple onions

yellow onions

Juice and zest of one lime or lemon

Sprinkle of salt and pepper or Kinders Seasoning Salt

*You could also add in some jalapenos, corn or cilantro if you like that :)

Stir until well coated and refrigerate for about an hour before eating.

This pico gets pretty soggy leftover.  It's best eaten the same day you make it.  I do eat it leftover on tacos, but know that it's not as fresh and crisp on day 2.

These multi-grain scoops are delicious!

And the pico mix is great with tacos!

Give this a try for your next taco night!

14th Bloggy Birthday!

Happy 14th Birthday to Polka-Dotty Place!  14!!!! I can hardly believe it.  

I have been writing for this space nearly every day for 14 years.  It has been one of my favorite hobbies, favorite outlets, favorite way to document our lives and I'm so thankful you show up to read what I write.  Some of you have been with me since we lived in Utah.  Wow!  I always said that I would stop blogging when it was no longer fun.  I'm thrilled to say that I still love blogging and can't wait for another year in this space.

Back in 2011, Kevin and I were living in Utah and nearly everything about our life was different.

We lived and loved life in a tiny apartment.  We had two cats - Oliver & Topher - who have both since passed.  We traveled nearly every weekend to explore all the wild west had to offer.  Jobs that took us to Utah for what we thought would be a five year process, ended up being a nine year adventure.  We both started and finished graduate school together at The University of Utah.  I was teaching 3rd grade in public schools.  Kevin was teaching/working/learning all over Salt Lake City.  Our circles of friends were different and we were much more well rested.  We loved our time in Utah!

Throwback to Summer of 2011:

The Badlands.

Mt. Rushmore.

The view from Kevin's office where we did a lot of studying.

Fast forward to 2025 and it feels like almost everything about our life is different.  We have 3 different cats.  We have 3 kids.  We have lived in 4 different houses and 4 different cities.  We're back in the Midwest which I wasn't sure would ever happen.  Kevin's is working his dream jobs and I love teaching kindergarten at a private school.  It'll be my first time ever to teach with one of my own kids in my grade.  We're about to enter junior high territory and the kids are making new friends and trying new things to find their own hobbies.  We're making our house a home and even though everything has changed so much in 14 years, we still love the life we are building together.

Thanks for reading my blog.

Thanks for caring about my family.

Thanks for sticking around for all the adventures these last 14 years.

Cheers to a new year ahead filled with new adventures!

Love you lots!

Pancake Spaghetti

Pancake Spaghetti.  I know it sounds weird, but hear me out.

We are enjoying trying some new recipe this Summer.  I saw this idea for pancake spaghetti online and saved it to do with the kids on a slow morning.  I mixed up our usual Hungry Jack extra light and fluffy pancake mix.  Grabbed a squirt bottle and then carefully poured the mix into the bottle.  It was really easy.

This would be so fun to make with your kids, grandkids, friends or family.  The kids loved making their own spaghetti and just needed a little help flipping.

Pan warmed up, sprayed with nonstick cooking spray and then a full bottle of pancake mix.

Fill the whole pan one line at a time with pancake mix.  Let it bubble and firm up then flip.  Everything cooks quickly so watch it closely!

We made some eggs and had all of our usual pancake toppings - butter and syrup.

Cheers to slow mornings, delicious breakfasts and snuggles.  I'm in denial that it is the last day of June.  Summer needs to SLOW DOWN.

I hope you give this pancake spaghetti a try!