What’s Up Wednesday

Today I’m linking up with one of my favorite bloggers: Mixandmatchmama!

She does this every once in awhile and it’s super fun to read so I am linking up too. 

So here’s what’s up!

What we’re eating...

Pumpkin Spice Puppy Chow

This is SO good! It's not overwhelmingly pumpkin-spice-y. But my favorite part is that it uses Biscoff Cookie Butter rather than peanut butter. Eversyn is pretty allergic to most nuts, and I think it would be a crime to deprive her from the deliciousness that is puppy chow... so when I saw this blogger uses cookie butter, I thought it was pure genius!

It's soup season!! I got this recipe for potato soup from a friend and it COULD NOT be easier:

Set your crock pot to low.

Add one can of cream of chicken soup, one big box of broth (I used chicken broth) and a bag of frozen potatoes (I used Ore Ida cubed potatoes). Let it go for about 5 hours. Add one brick of room temperature cream cheese and whisk it in.

THAT'S IT! 

Now, I can't leave well enough alone, so I added in a whole sautéed onion and garlic initially. I also added in a quick roux at the end (just melt two tablespoons of butter, then add 2 tablespoons of flour. Whisk like crazy until it comes together in a paste, about 2 minutes. Then I just added a spash or two of whole milk--still whisking away--and added it to the soup when I added the cream cheese) 

FRIENDS. To die for. It's officially in the regular rotation. 

What I’m reminiscing about...

Sigh. My maternity leave. I miss it already and the early morning Target runs, piling all these guys in a cart and having no deadline and strolling through a pretty empty store. 

I love that, as a teacher, I DO get alot of time off...but it will never compare to all the time we just had together. 

What I’m loving... 

All things fall! This tree is in my neighborhood and I finally pulled over today to take a picture. It is so vibrant!

Also just watching these guys grow and play together. 

What we’ve been up to...

More fall stuff!

Is it even a baby’s first Halloween if you DON’T put her in a pumpkin?! *this pumpkin was cleaned and lined with a towel, but little Lennon was still cold..so we didn’t bother trying to stuff her feet through the holes. 

Oh my heart! Big smiles and matching jammies!

What I’m dreading...

Nothing really! Bring on the holidays!

What I’m working on...

Gearing up for Christmas shopping. The house is pretty organized at the moment!

What I’m excited about...

HALLOWEEN!

 Eversyn chose Moana and Alden is going as a bat. We had a costume party a few weeks ago where they got to test drive their costumes. 

Lennon will be Cinderella and stay home to pass out candy 👻

What I’m watching/reading...

I’ve been a Walking Dead fan since it started. I’m so sad to see Rick go next week! Honestly though, I’m not thrilled with the direction of the show. This season feels rushed and just off. I’ll stick with it, if course but I might call it quits after this one.

I’ve also been reading the Harry Potter series for approximately one thousand years. I’m on book three right now! ⚡️

What I’m listening to...

Omg this is dorky. But if you watch my Instagram stories, you know I reference John Mayer’s stories often. He is HILARIOUS. Well, he started doing a “show” live on Sunday nights. I just love listening to him talk. It’s not like a “crush” situation, either!! He is just so witty and clever. 

What I’m wearing...

Halloween stuff! It’s really too bad you can’t wear holiday stuff more often. I love it for me and the kids!

What I’m doing this weekend...

Hanging out with these two cute girls! 

What I’m looking forward to next month...

Thanksgiving!! We host every year and I love everything about that. Especially the smells from the kitchen 🤤

Also all things holiday!

And turning 32! 🙀

What else is new?

Just adjusting to this newish working mom life.

I’m thinking about posting a little bit about how I’m coping with that (spoiler alert: not well!)

That was fun! 

Like I said, I love Mix and Match Mama. She posts EVERY day and has awesome recipes, skin and makeup ideas/advice and a gorgeous home and family. Check her out!

Life Lately

A little life lately post!

We have mostly been chilling lately, enjoying all that fall has to offer.  I am on my last week of maternity leave so I am trying to soak up ALL of the baby time that I can before heading back to work.

Bow and Kitty Clips here!

The other weekend, our town had a Fall Fest for kids. It was like 75 degrees in the morning and dropped to 57 and rainy by the time we got there! Needless to say, mine were SUPER under dressed. #whoops

 A few days later... shorts and tanks! This fall weather can be crazy...but today I officially packed away all shorts and swim suits. I think by October 15, we can safely say the warm weather is gone for good.

This girl is 7 weeks old! She's finally starting to smile all the time and be awake and alert alot more. Just waiting to hear those sweet baby coos! AND the past 2 nights, she has only woken up ONCE. I feel like I have slept so amazingly! 

This week, Dan and I celebrated 6 years married. We always go to the apple orchard on our anniversary.Time flies!! I can't even BELIEVE how different our lives have become. That's what 3 kids + lots of adulting will do to a couple. We are officially done baby making... so hopefully time will slow down just a little bit for us and we can just enjoy our little people.

Saw this the other day and it is ACCURATE! 

I made this fun mix yesterday for the kids* (*aka, myself). I love making festive treats and it's just so much more exciting when you have littles who share that excitement! It's SUPER easy...

-Rice Chex

-Candy Corn

-Pretzels

-Simply Salted Popcorn

-Halloween Sprinkles

-White Chocolate Chips

First, I pulled out which container I wanted to store this in. With mixes like this, it is SO easy for me to make wayyy too much. So I just poured the different ingredients in and filled my container just to control how much I was making. 

Then, I took about a half cup of white chocolate chips and melted them in the microwave. White chocolate burns SUPER easy, so I just did 30 second increments. After about 60 seconds of microwaving, I added just a splash of vegetable oil...this loosens the chocolate up so it's pourable (otherwise it may feel too thick).

I poured it over the mix, which was on wax paper, gave it a little toss and let it cool. 

We are WELL into this treat today (having some now as I blog)! 

Well, now I am off to just take in every last second of my, basically, 19 weeks off of work (I went in for about a week and a half before Lennon decided to show up). 

Happy Monday! 

Mama and Me Day

Happy October 3rd! I hope everyone wore pink and wrote in their Burn Book accordingly. #ifyoudontgetthatyoucantsitwithme #exceptyoucanbecauseimnotintoexclusion

So, I have a mere 2 and a half weeks before my maternity leave is over and I have to leave my pretend Stay at Home Mom World. I have a lot of feelings about going back to work...but I am not here to bum anyone out tonight. 

Anyway, I wanted to make sure Eversyn and I had a special mama and me day before I went back. She has been SUCH a trooper since Lennon was born. Almost anytime I ask her to do something, she does it. Find a pacifier? Done. Let the dog out? No prob. OF COURSE, Every once in awhile she will tell me, “mom, I’m too busy right now,” (which, 🤣) or “I’m too tired.” But really, for four, she’s quite helpful. I wanted to reward that!

So we started off with something I’d been putting off: getting a haircut. One of my sister and I’s oldest friends is a hair stylist, so of course she is the one keeping us looking #freshtodeath.

She just looks so big here!

Her hair was so long, she had to stand to cut it! #okrapunzel

Next stop...

Halloween store! Today we were just looking. Dude... she changes her mind every 30 seconds on what she wants to be. HOW am I going to buy a costume? What’s the algorithm here?! So far, she has wanted to be Sunny Day, Moana, and now Tiana. 🤷🏻‍♀️ We will see...

After that... she wanted to go to an indoor play place. Evie recently discovered Blippi (he’s a YouTube guy. Advice: don’t check him out with a kid around unless you want them hooked on yet another YouTuber. This whole YouTube celebrity stuff really weirds me out... but that could be for another post...) Anyway. Blippi is always at awesome, indoor play places (think the Discovery Zone of the now) and we don’t have really any of those locally. Fun Flatables was all I could come up with!

However, she did not mind and absolutely LOVED it.

Selfie in the bounce house.

We basically had the place to ourselves 💕

After that I was starved and she totally needed some refueling...

Obviously we needed pumpkin cookies. Oh yeah, and there’s all her grilled cheese crust. Pre-kids, I SWORE my kids would eat their crust. #nope

And we chatted about what we thought the babies were doing and why some people like to eat outside. I love 4.

Last errand miiiight have been just for me. But I do think she enjoyed herself. 

And then we called it a day.

Of course, as I type, I am laying on her bedroom floor trying to get her to sleep. Not sure how/why the stars aligned this way, but she was the sassiest lady before bed tonight. Sigh. Clearly, we are battling sleep if I can compose an entire and lengthy blog post! 

Take the good with the bad! Now go eat some Kalteen bars and prank call Aaron Samuels.