What's Up Wednesday

Welcome to my piece of the Internet.  I'm joining in on the fun with Mix and Match Family, Pinterest Told Me To and The Larson Lingo for What's Up Wednesdays.

What We’re Eating This Week

I’ve cooked more this week than in the past few weeks because we haven’t been home for the past month!  Just simple stuff because we have a lot of things going on – Michael has soccer practices 4 times a week and we’ve been dealing with all the stuff that goes on with buying/renovating a house.

What I’m Reminiscing About

The fall weather. Thanks to Nordstrom, I’ve got some of my fall wardrobe in my closet and I can’t wait to wear them. It’s been so hot here that I’m looking forward to the cooler days.  And of course, pumpkin spiced latte in a red cup season!

What I’m Loving

I’m loving my new necklaces I got from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale.  I love how delicate they are and they go with almost anything. Get the Gorjana bar necklace here, and the Sonya Renee necklace here.

What We’ve Been Up To

We’ve been up to lots, but the biggest thing we’ve been up to is a new house!  We saw the house last Wednesday, our contractor come in to see how much it would be to remodel the next day, made an offer on Saturday and close on the house this coming Friday!  Crazy fast.

We won’t move in until a couple of months from now because of the renovations.  And we’ve decided not to put our current house on the market until we have moved into the new house.  With the kids starting school, house renovations and going through IVF, we’ve decided that keeping the house in showing condition will be the last straw for my emotional sanity.

What I’m Dreading

Moving.  Enough said….

What I’m Working On

I’m working on being more patient with my boys.  I will be a better parent when they start back up at school. I love them, but the constant bickering and tattling is driving me bonkers.

What I’m Excited About

Living in our dream house (after all the remodeling headaches and the moving). This is the kitchen that we are using as our inspiration. I love everything about this kitchen.

What I’m Watching/Reading

Watching Reality TV, of course.  M and I are loyal viewers of RHOC and The Bachelorette this season. He won't admit it, but he probably loves these shows more than me. We’ve also been watching Frontline on PBS together.  They have some pretty interesting topics.

Right now, I’m reading The Kitchen House and once I’m done with that, I’ll move on to The Affair.

What I’m Listening To

My boys bicker…

What I’m Wearing

Right now, I’m either in my workout clothes or in shorts and a T-shirt.  Let's face it, summer in Texas is not conducive to dressing up.  I did get dressed to go out to a nice dinner with the hubs and to meet friends for drinks after at the Rustic.  But I’m mostly in my gym gear. This is my favorite basic tank.  The tennis skirt is out of stock, but here's a similar one. 

What I’m Doing This Weekend

No plans yet, but we have people visiting from California so we will find something fun to do with the kiddos.

What I’m Looking Forward to Next Month

The boys going back to school!  Mark will also be going to Pre-K full-time so that will be super exciting for him.  He’s already picked out a backpack and we will be going school shopping together for the first time!

What Else is New?

There are lots of other happenings, but it would make this post way too long and boring.  

Hot Soccer Weekend

It is nice to be home for an extended period of time especially after a month away.  We hit the ground running when we got back.  Michael had four soccer games to play in 3 days so it was pretty hectic.

These two fell asleep on the way to the first game Friday evening.  And to every game thereafter.  I love how Matthew had on the soccer shirt.  He doesn't even like soccer and would prefer to stay home and play his video games with his friends.

Mark found some friends to play with at the game.  Anderson is one of Michael's teammates brother.

Then the big boys played with them.  These boys were so good with the little ones!

On Saturday morning, we got some donuts for breakfast. Not as good as my parents' but their the closest we can get around here.

This is how they watched the game on Saturday evening.  Mark loves a cold towel on his head.

Couldn't get any good pictures with iPhone.  Michael is in white on the left.

He had two games on Sunday and it was so dang hot that I didn't even think to take any pictures.  They won the first two games and lost the last two games.

On Monday, I went to Nordstrom to return a few things and came home with these new shoes.  They are so light and comfy.

Matthew received his second Tinker Crate and he loved working on it.  It had a battery, electrical wires, copper tape and little lights.  When he put it all together the little lights lit up so it was pretty cool. I got him a 3 month subscription but he wants more so I might extend it for him.

This week is not going to be as hectic, but we to get started on our back to school preparations.  My goals this week are to get Michael his book for his summer assignment, get his sports physical done and make an appointment for Mark's shots!

Our Road Trip to Branson '15

After we got back from our trip to California, we packed right up and drove up to Branson two days later.  Yay, another family trip.  We have never been to Branson before and I did not know what to expect. I wanted to boys to experience a roundtrip so we decided to book this little resort up in Branson.  We were pleasantly surprised by how beautiful it was up there near the Ozarks!

There were tons of stuff for the kiddos to do and they had a blast!  So glad we did this trip, but as much as I love going on vacations, it's so nice to be home after a month away!

We got up early and were on the road by 7am so Mark was still in his jammies.

And after almost 7 hours on the road, a stop for lunch in Fort Smith, Arkansas, we arrived in Missouri.

First up on this vacation was zip lining!  Michael's so excited to do this.  And so was Mark.  Matthew was not.  He decided that he didn't want to do it after the practice run with me.  Mark went ahead with M as a tandem and Michael went on his own. He thought it was awesome.  I stayed with Matthew and we went to lunch while they went other adventure.

Michael got brave at the end and went upside-down.  Crazy kid!

Relaxing in our "lodge" at the Welk Resort.  This little resort was much nicer than I expected.  Our suite was beautifully decorated, clean, and had everything we needed including a washer and dryer.  Nothing like coming home from a vacation with clean clothes!

This was the view from our private patio.  So pretty.

We went to Silver Dollar City, which is now one of my favorite amusement parks. It was big enough to entertain the bigger boys and had tons of rides for Mark. It wasn't super crowded and we didn't have to wait hours to get on rides.  The longest line we were in was for the rapids ride.

I also loved how the park was set up.  They had smaller rides interspersed though out the park-not in one kiddie area like most parks. M could take Michael to the bigger rides and I can take Mark on the small rides without having to be far away from each other.

A selfie while waiting for M and Michael to be done with "one of the best" roller coaster ride.

This is what a tired boy looks like.

Nothing says vacation like sitting onto patio, eating an apple in our undies....

One of his favorite things to do at the Splash-a-torium at the resort was to stand under that bucket and get soaked.

Matthew and Michael love to read these fat books like the World Guinness books and the Believe It to Not books so when they saw the Ripley's Believe or Not Museum, they were all over it.

This is his angry face....

There were also about 10 mini-golf courses in Branson. So of course we had to play.  They took us to our course in a little train.

This little one loved it the best and had a mini tantrum when we finished the last hole.  He didn't understand why his ball disappeared into the hole.

He found some rocks to entertain himself with while we waited for M and his brothers to finish up.  He was building his solar system. I say "his" solar system because he added his own planet called Pluto Cat.

What do you do when it's hot and muggy?  You go to the waterpark! We spent our Wednesday at the White Water waterpark.  The two older ones went off on their own to the big boys' slides and we hung with Mark at the 2 super fun splash pads.  We took him on a family slide and he LOVED it!

Then we got back and the boys wanted to play some more at the resort. These boys are taking ping pong to a whole new level.  Beach ball makes for a more interesting game.

Ping-pong paddles can also double as a sliding device...

On our very last day, M took Michael to go on a helicopter ride.  I stayed at the resort with the other 2 boys to pack and clean up for our drive home. They flew over to Table Rock dam and lake. I'm so happy to be able to give Michael this experience.  He is definitely more of a thrill seeker like his dad while Matthew is more of a better safe than sorry person like his mamma.

Bird's eye view of Silver Dollar City.

And bird's eye view of White Water.

After the two got back from their helicopter ride, we packed up the car and got on the road.  I got bored so I started snapping selfies.

I have a very serious driver with me.  We are in good hands.

The drive through Arkansas was very pretty.  I was surprised by how hilly and green everything was.

Someone was tired.

And after about 6 hours of driving, we were back in Texas! The kids were great on the road and I think it's a road trip worth repeating.  Thanks Branson for a great time.