Friday Faves

Happy Friday, friends!  I hope it's been able to stay cool this week.  It's been HOT HOT HOT in the Midwest.  I'm ready for some cooler temps so we don't completely melt when we walk outside.  My van and I are back to being best friends after some battery issues last week.  It was a busy week full of date nights, work events, meetings and fun.

Did you catch my blog posts this week?

School Lunch and Snack Ideas

Easing the Transition to a Big Kid Bed

Preteen Parenting: Episode 4 Be Excited

Now on to my favorites!  It was a really good week :)

1 // First Day of Classes at UE

Kevin kicked off his first week of classes with his first group of graduate students for his program.  After 18 months of really hard work, his PsyD program is off to a great start.  He's hired a great team, brought in a wonderful group of students and we're so very proud of him.  It's really exciting to see his dream come true with this job.

Kevin hosted orientations, dinners and classes and it all went really well.  It was fun to see him hit this milestone that we'd been talking about and praying about for a very long time.  The kids loved the University of Evansville customized cookies and the students enjoyed their welcome gifts.  The whole week couldn't have gone better.

2 // Backpack purse

I picked up this backpack purse during Prime Day and I love it so much!  

It's cute enough to carry even when I'm out and about solo and it holds plenty of toddler necessities when I'm in mom mode.  I tend to carry a lot with me so it's great for this stage of my mom life.  There are tons of pockets inside and out, a shoulder strap and backpack straps and the quality is great.  I'd 10/10 recommend it for any lady on the go.  It would even be a great travel bag.  I added a pom pom tassel that I already owned for a fun bit of flair.

It's on super sale right now and comes in 30+ colors!  And it's hard to argue with 16k+ reviews!

I got the "two toned vintage leather brown" and have my eye on a couple other colors:

Here are my Amazon links: 

 

3 // It's good to be 3

Leo is loving his big boy bed and sleeping upstairs pretty uneventfully every night.  Hooray!  He also kept getting "stuck" upside down all week long.  I rescued him more times than I can count.

We bought this foam bed bumper for his twin bed and it works so well.  It's soft like a pillow, but it definitely keeps him from rolling out.  I love that it's not as ugly as a traditional rail and it doesn't keep anyone from snuggling with him.  We'd highly recommend it. 

4 // Flower refresh

We're hosting a big dinner at our house on Saturday and I spent the week refreshing and cleaning all the things.  Rugs have been washed.  Vents have been dusted.  And patio pots have been refreshed.  I didn't have good luck with the lavender plants I purchased so I swapped them out with this pretty Guara plant.  It's a new one to me, but it's supposed to love the full sun.  It makes a pretty statement so I am a fan.

5 // Exercise Routine

Leo and I have gotten into a good exercise routine.  We eat lunch, tidy up and then head up to the office to exercise.  I walk on the treadmill, blast some Morgan Wallen and he plays trains, Legos, kitchen and colors nearby.  Then eat the end he says "Good job, Mom!  You so sweaty and strong!"  haha

6 // Crumbl

We tried some new Crumbl cookie flavors this week and they were yummy.  The cinnamon lovers at our house loved the Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cookie and chocolate with chocolate icing was so good!

7 // Teacher Treats

Our school publishes a list of teacher favorites so we sent in the teacher's favorite snacks.  They were a big hit and easy to add to my grocery pick up list.  I added a bow and a handwritten note.  Easy peasy!

8 // Fall Dress

This Time and Tru Walmart dress deserves a blog post of it's own because it is that good!  Stay tuned.  It's so flattering and so pretty!  The buttons, flutter sleeves and polka-dot trim make it the easiest dress to put on and look really put together.  This mustard color is my most favorite.  I'll be wearing it with sandals and simple accessories now and toss on a jean jacket and boots well into Fall.

My sidekick was there to cheer me on and say "You so pretty, Mom!" as I was trying it on.  He's going to be the sweetest husband one day.

9 // Penny Time

Penny got lots of extra snuggles this week - we snuck in a nap and then after the kids go to bed, she hops up on my lap for some individual attention.  She's the snuggliest, sweetest girl.

10 // Date night

We did some organizing projects at Kevin's office this week, tried a new restaurant - Cork N Cleaver for my local friends and then ran to the grocery store.  Our perfect date night combo!  I need to remember to schedule a date night every year the weekend before his classes start.  That was fun!

11 // Story Time

We invited one of Leo's best buddies y to go with us to story time and it was so much fun.  Leo missed out on some story time opportunities with the craziness of 2020 so we are thankful to be making up for lost time.  He loved it and we'll definitely go back.  I loved going to story time with each of my kids.

12 // Fletch

Fletcher loves metal detecting on our property.  It's his favorite hobby.  He has found some of the craziest things - car parts, farm tools, construction stuff, glasses, toys and tools.  But this one has us stumped - what do you think this is??  It's all metal - the base and the sharp pointy part.  He dug it up around our creek.  Google's best guess is a vintage harvesting tool.  He was really proud of his mystery find.

13 // One on One time

It's tricky to get one on one time with the kids so I have to get creative.  I had to run a cookie errand on Sunday so I invited Fletcher to go with me.  He was thrilled.  He casually mentioned that it's not very often that he gets to hang out alone with mom.  I'm working on that.  We ran our errand and then we stopped by the gas station to stock up on his favorite drink - Prime and grabbed some candy for his lunches this week.  He loves hunting around for different Prime flavors to try.  This whole thing probably took 30 minutes, but it was a sweet moment for both of us.

Whew!  That was a lot of good things in one week.  I have some fun things to share with you next week.  I hope you have the best weekend and I'll see you back here on Monday.

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