Try-it Tuesday: Summer Bucket List

I have been known to discuss my mixed feelings about lists here on the blog. It’s definitely a classic love-hate minefield fraught with possibilities for both elation (if I take that list to school!) or self-loathing (if I get schooled by the list).

But a list of fun, purely optional things that will make memories and earn major brownie points with my kiddos? Well, I’m all over that! Which is why it’s weird that it’s taken me this long to make a Summer Bucket List.

Summer Bucket List, (noun): a list of fun, frivolous, and otherwise awesome activities you hope to accomplish before the beginning of the new school year that never get accomplished during the ongoing school year due to their taking a back seat to homework, projects, sack lunches, and—oh yeah—sleep.

It took me a while to jump on the chalkboard mania bandwagon, but now that I’m on it, I can’t seem to stop! (You might remember the twins’ 4 and 6 month photo shoots, my dollar store chalkboard basket makeovers, and my Father’s Day basket sign).

I’m no artist, but “chalkboard art” is just my speed, what with all the doodling and the possibility for my handwriting to look a little less like a 3rd-grade boy’s than usual.

 

I’m sure I could have added all kinds of fantastically imaginative options to my list, but I tried to stick with things we were most likely to check off (like movie nights on our DIY “big screen” in our playroom upstairs…I’ll have to show it to you guys soon). Clearly, we need to get busy, so we can add some more check marks.

 

That’s a sno-cone there in the bottom right corner, in case you were wondering (I told you I’m no artist).

P.S. Perhaps you noticed that “blog more” was not on that list. I hope you guys will understand as I scale back a bit this summer and adopt a more relaxed blogging schedule so I can focus on my little sweeties and my husband.

Do tell: is making a summer bucket list a habit of yours (or is it still on your summer bucket list)?:

What is the number one thing you’d put on it if you (have) made one?

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Feature Friday FREE-FOR-ALL {#70}

We’ve had an uncharacteristically mild spring, continuing into June (on our anniversary date, I actually needed my jeans jacket during the evening because it was a smidge chilly; as opposed to our wedding day when it was 84 degrees at 9 PM, and I thought I would spontaneously combust from the combined heat of the night, my heavily beaded dress, and all the hugs from my friends and family).  For the past two weeks, though, the temperatures have been climbing higher and higher, until yesterday (and several days before, I think) we reached a high of 95, with the heat index over 100.  Texas summer is officially here, folks.

I have friends who have taken their kids to the pool every day this week. (Overachievers). But today will be our inaugural pool run.

Last night, we bought the goggles, and this morning, I’m packing this $6 Goodwill bag…

…with snacks, towels, swim diapers, sunscreen, floaties, changes of clothes…(am I forgetting something? probably)…and we are braving our gym’s pool for the very first time this year. I’m sure I’ll Instagram something from the experience. I just hope it isn’t anything like this nightmare that my friend, Rachel, experienced last week.  I am no stranger to toddler diaper catastrophes, but I’d definitely prefer that they happen far, far away from public sources of aquatic entertainment, if they must happen at all.

ANYhoo, not to sound too dramatic, but if any of you feel the need to pray at around 11:30 CST this morning, that’s probably the Holy Spirit prompting you to intercede for my sanity as I attempt to keep 5 children from a) drowning, b) having a OH-NO-MY-FACE-GOT-WET meltdown, or c) burning to a bright red crisp in the glaring Texas sun.

Anybody else want to share your Friday plans? Maybe you’re going to the dentist for a root canal? Or doing two weeks worth of grocery shopping? Or cleaning your fridge?

Solidarity, sisters. I totally know how you feel.

Okay, so maybe now I am being a smidge dramatic. I’m sure we will have a fine and dandy time at the pool, but I hereby reserve the right to consume copious amounts of chocolate and feed my children McDoubles for lunch (heck, I’ll probably do that anyway) if we don’t.

Ooooookay, now that you’re caught up on my morning, I want to see what you’ve been up to!

But before I put the party link up, I thought I might mention my one and only Father’s Day Gift Suggestion that I shared earlier this week, just in case you missed it, and you’re frantic for good (or any) ideas!

And now it’s time to link up again! Don’t forget to grab a party button so others can join in the fun (or just include a text link-back).

Oh, and don’t forget to follow along with all these other fun happenings:

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest

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5 Things Thursday: Twins—The Same, Yet Different

Yesterday, I got an exciting email from a reader who just found out she’s having twins (at 10 weeks, which is a 9 week jump on my heads-up that I was getting a 2-for-1 deal; still trying to decide if that’s a good or a bad thing). It was exciting for me, at least. Because I have twins (newsflash!), I’ve already gotten past the hardest part of the newborn stage, and I have yet to traverse the minefield of Terrible Twos TIMES Two.

So, ask current day me what having twins is like, and I say annoyingly perky things like, “SO much fun! I really think everybody should have a set!” (Until they’re simultaneously hungry, screaming, and poopy, that is). People tend to back away from me slowly when I say things like that. As if I were to touch them, I might accidentally transfer my twin-birthing power, and—BAM!—preggo X 2! (Wouldn’t their husbands be confused when they blamed that crazy fitness instructor at the gym for their predicament!)

But what this poor blessed girl really wanted to know is: will I survive? To which I could only answer: yes, by the grace of God! (Yeah right, that’s all I said; my answer was more like a doctoral dissertation).

(Ha! Apparently, the twins’ ears were burning because they both just started fussing from their pack n’ play where they are “napping”).

So…what is having twins like, really? Well, I was telling the truth before. It really is fun. Mostly because they do so many of the same things, but in their own separate ways.

Here are 5 ways that my girls are the same, yet different.

1.

They both suck their fingers.

The twins never took to pacifiers, but they’re huge fans of their own fingers. Nola sucks the first two fingers of her left hand only (she tries the right hand every once in a while, presumably so it won’t feel left out, but the results are hilariously awkward and ineffective). Evy is the most delicate thumb-sucker I’ve ever seen. Most kids plug that thing in their mouths like a sink-stopper, but she looks like she’s nibbling at a delicacy, almost like she’s afraid that if she sucks too hard, it’ll fall off (and that would be bad). She’s also an equal-opportunity sucker and is equally proficient with her right and left hands. In fact, if she’s especially in need of comfort, she alternates between the two—almost as if to say, “Okay, that one’s no good. I wonder if this one’s working today.”

And, yes, I am really looking forward to breaking two toddlers of their finger-sucking addictions.

2.

They’re both aspiring gamers.

Although, it appears that Evy takes her remote control (ha, ha. get it?) a tad more seriously than Nola. And, honestly, if I had to guess about their future personalities, I’d have to say that that’s pretty spot on.

3.

They’re both prone to silly faces.

 

4.

They both love shopping.

Okay, so “love” might be too strong a term (it’ll come). But when Mama puts them on the floor of the dressing room, they’re both equally willing to embark on a mission to find every last gum wrapper, dead bug, or discarded tag available for possible consumption.

5.

They both look great in polka dots (see above pic for further proof)…

…but it would probably make people a lot happier if they wore their “N” and “E” onesies more often.

All of my good friends are able to tell them apart pretty consistently by this point, but I’ve had complete strangers tell me I couldn’t possibly distinguish who’s who (despite my adamant declarations that I can, with zero difficulty).

I suppose I could have them wear their initials all the time, but then, how could the complete strangers be sure that I’d gotten it right when I dressed them??!

What a conundrum.

P.S. My sweet friend, Lisa, made those adorable monogrammed onesies for the girls, and I absolutely love them!

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Wardrobe Wednesday: What I Didn’t Wear to the Schlitterbahn

Not that you wanted to see it anyway, but I will not be showing you what I wore to Schlitterbahn last week. I will say, though, that, after buying no fewer than 4 different swimsuits (and keeping the receipts, of course), I ended up wearing an old suit. Because swimsuit shopping is the pits, and sometimes, it’s better to just stick with what you know.

You know?

So, this week is about everything I didn’t wear to a water park. Hooray for that!.

First up:

What I Wore For the Car Ride

 

Shirt: G by Guess, $17, Shorts: Old Navy, $8, Flip flops: GAP, $10

I washed my hair in the morning before we left, with no intention of doing so again until we returned, 4 days later. This is Day 1 hair, people.

P.S. Pardon the general rumpledness. It was, after all, a car ride.

Next:

What I Wore to the River

    

Dress: JC Penney, $10, Sandals: GAP, $20

We took a trip to the Comal River one day, and this dress would have worked great as a cover-up (which is how I wore it to Schlitterbahn the next day; hey! I guess I am showing you what I wore there) if I had actually worn a swimsuit under it.  As it was, when Della decided it would be fun to use my skirt as a towel and then perform a twirl/flip maneuver on it when she was done, it wasn’t my bathing suit that got introduced to the general public. Of course, as I mentioned on Monday, the general public was wearing the equivalent of undergarments too, so nobody even blinked. It did make me mentally assign the dress to “cover-up” status from there on out, though. At least when children are present. The things people don’t bat an eye at on the river are the kind that tend to make you the talk of aisles 7-20 in Walmart (okay, okay, Target).

Next up:

What I Wore on Date Night

Dress: Old Navy, $18; Shoes: Beall’s, $25, Belt: Goodwill, $1, Clutch: LOFT, $14

I wore this on a date with my husband to that adorable restaurant you see in the background. Huisache. Pronounced “wee-satch,” in case you were wondering (I was). It’s the name of a particular tree that they have growing on the grounds.

But no matter what unnecessarily-difficult-to-pronounce name the restaurant had chosen, I had a much simpler, more colloquial term for it: YUMMY.

Seriously, y’all. Everything about that place was fantastic—our waitress, the decor, and the food (which was “upscale American,” for lack of a better term, and tasted really fresh and just a smidge different…in a good way). Well, actually, there was one not-so-great thing. I ordered a Coke with dinner, and she brought me a glass of ice and a cold canned drink. Which, for the caliber of restaurant and the general air of both classiness and whimsy it carried, seemed a tad crass.

She gave no explanation for the canned drink, which led Shaun and me into an intensely speculative conversation about the possibility of refills and exactly how much I would be charged for my drink.

The answers?

No refills and $2.25. For one canned Coke. Mo-ly.

 

This is only end-of-day-2 hair, but with the heat/humidity, I was already having to get a little creative.

Here we are with dessert, which was chocolate cake with all kinds of scrumptious, gooey sauces + ice cream for me and flan for him.

Flan. Now there’s a word that usually conjures images of rubber and watery ick. But this flan, oh, this flan was made with cream cheese, which made it taste like heaven on a spoon. I will recreate it one day. Oh, yes, I will.

And finally, we have:

What I Wore to Family Dinner After Being at Schlitterbahn All Day

Top: Marshall’s, $10, Shorts: GAP outlet, $8

Day 3 hair + having it in a bun all day at a water park = braids. ‘Nuff said.

Of course, all of you are just thinking, “What? Braids? What is she talking about? All I see are cute babies!”

Babies: the best distraction from a bad hair day. (I highly recommend going with the double-model for optimum misdirection).

And there you (mostly) have it, folks! I did wear one more outfit on our return trip + detour to the San Marcos outlet malls (yes, we did make it there eventually), but both my camera and phone battery were dead, and I had juice + goodness knows what else all over my white shorts, so it wasn’t exactly a blog-worthy look anyway.

And now, I’m dying to know…what’s the most you’ve ever paid for one measly soft drink at a restaurant?

Have you ever gotten the canned Coke treatment? Curious minds want to know!

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