What's Up Wednesday

Time for What's Up Wednesday with Shay, Mel and Sheaffer! Happy to join in on the fun and looking forward to reading what other people are doing.

What We're Eating
There are very few things that ALL my boys like.  I'm usually making them different things for dinner so when I find something that they all eat, I keep it in my rotation.  This month has been vanilla french toast and lemon roasted chicken.

What I'm Reminiscing About

I loved spending one-on-one time with M this summer. It's not often that we get to do it with 3 boys, so I'm very happy we got in a trip to Cancun AND a short trip to Napa Valley.

What I'm Loving
I'm really loving the summer rainstorms.  I hate the Texas summer but this year, with all the rain, it hasn't been so bad.

What I've Been Up To
We've been up to lots go back to school activities! There's Dragon Camp, Athletic meeting, Welcome lunches for teachers, and Curriculum Night for all 3 kiddos all within a 2-week span.

What I've Been Dreading
Waahh! It's already started!  Homework.  Enough said.

What I'm Working on
I'm working on redecorating my home office. It's a guest room but I've converted into an office for me filled with girlie things. I've been buying things for this room piece by piece so it's taking awhile to come together. I was so excited to find the perfect curtains last week. Here's a little peek. The whole room is not done and it's a bit of a mess right now.

What I'm excited about

Fall and football!

What I'm Watching/Reading
I'm still watching the Real Housewives of Orange County and lots of HGTV. Right now, I'm in the middle of Everything We Keep by Kerry Lonsdale. I'm liking it so far.

I finished The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan in less than a week, so I obviously loved it. It's kind of a long read, but so good. 

What I'm Listening To
Whatever is playing on the radio while I'm in the car! I've been listening to the country music station and my boys think I'm weird for it. Haha...

What I'm Wearing
I've been wearing shorts and tank tops but I'd rather be wearing this-

Source

What I'm Doing this weekend
Soccer, soccer and more soccer! Michael has a soccer tournament and Mark has a game this weekend so lots and lots of soccer.

What I'm Looking forward to Next Month
OktoberFest, Halloween, s'mores at our outdoor fireplace and cooler weather!

What Else is New
Not much!

Thanks for visiting and I'm looking forward to reading others' What's Up posts!

First Weekend of Soccer

Mark had his first soccer game of the season on Saturday. He was so fun to watch! I loves that he tries so hard. He played well even though his team lost.

It was a beautiful day for soccer!

They had practiced their dribbling before the game.

After the game, we rested for a little bit and then headed off to Michael's soccer team party.

Friday we had a nice soaking rain and I loved it. It felt like fall had arrived.  But a couple of hours later, it was hot and humid again. Boo.

Little man loved watching it come down.

I spent the whole of Sunday doing chores and running errands.  That was our weekend! Next weekend, Michael has a soccer tournament and Mark has another soccer game so it will be a soccer-filled weekend.

First Day of School 2016

My boys started their first day of school yesterday.  Hooray.  I loved our summer and we had a very busy and fun one, but I am ready to get back to regular schedules and away from all the bickering that comes along with having 3 boys. It was exhausting!

All three backpacks ready to go.

Can you tell he's super excited to start his second year of Preschool?

My little 6th grader.

This guys is one year away from high school.  WHAT?! How did that happen? I was very surprised he went along with the picture holding a sign thing.

Little man was exhausted from his first day of school fell asleep.

Cancun Round 2

We spent last week in Cancun with the boys. This was my 3rd trip to Mexico this summer and the boys' 2nd trip. We love Cancun because it's such and easy flight and the beaches are beautiful.

My people on our way to security.

I can't say enough how awesome my kids are on trips. This guy talked the whole time on the flight. He talked to me, to himself and when he wasn't talking, he was singing.

We stayed at the Moon Palace this time because we've heard that it's really family friendly. It was a huge resort with 4 sections. We stayed at the villas in the Spa and Golf Club which was set back further away from the beach. It was great because it was quiet and serene. We got our own private golf cart to get around in. 

The boys loved having our own golf cart. And they all took turns driving it! Matthew drove too, but for some reason, I didn't get a picture of him driving.

When we are on vacation, we have a pretty standard routine.  Wake up, go to breakfast, swim, lunch, swim little more and then go to our room to rest up before dinner.

The big boys were probably too big for the splash park, but they didn't seem to mind.

We tried to watch a magic show one night, but it was so crowded and we couldn't get a seat so we left  about 5 minutes into the show. Mark did not like the loud music.

Our resort did not have a good beach so we drove up to its sister resort in the Hotel Zone called Beach Palace and hung out there for the day. The beach there was awesome. The sand was like powder, the water was clear and warm, and the waves were perfect for Michael to boogie board in.

Even Matthew went in the water.

The pools at this resort had a waterslide that was big enough for the older boys and small enough for the little guy to go on his own.

He loved the waterslide.

He wanted me to take his picture while he posed.

It was so nice to get some me time at the Spa.

We liked the Beach Palace so much we went back a couple more times.

We probably spent more pool and beach time at the Beach Palace then we did at our resort.

Lunch at the Golf Club.

Matthew and Mark love their Shirley Temples.

This was Mark when we were in our room resting. He fell asleep in his tightey-whiteys a little while after I took this picture.

While he napped, M and I went to get a pedicure.

On our last full day, we took a ferry out to Isla Mujeres and had the best time. Our plan was to swim with the dolphins as a family after hitting some tourist spots and then spending the rest of the afternoon on the North Beach.

Unfortunately, the dolphin place did not have our reservation when we arrived so we didn't get to swim with the dolphins that day. Poor Mark was so disappointed, but it turned out for the best because we got to spend more time at the beach.

Waiting for the ferry at Puerto Juarez.

The ferry was very nice - it took us about 20 minutes to get to the island.

We rented a golf cart to drive around the island.

Our first stop was the turtle farm. It was a little small and not nearly as cool as the one on the Grand Cayman, but the boys liked it.

There was a pier that led to this area where we saw stingrays, huge sea turtles and a shark.

These two climbed a tree and got a coconut. Michael is obsessed with coconuts. He watched a YouTube video on how to get a young coconut open so he wanted to test it out.

He was obsessed about getting it opened and had that coconut with him at all times.

Still working on getting the coconut open

Finally, he was able to get to the nut and somehow made a hole in it to get the water out. I was pretty impressed.

We drove along beautiful beaches...

I was even more impressed when Michael somehow got his coconut opened in two halves. I still don't know how he did it. It took him half a day, but his persistence paid off!

We ended our day in El Playa Norte. This beach was AMAZING. It was perfect for Mark because the water was calm, shallow, and super clear. There were also a ton if fish swimming around.

The boys found some rocks to climb on. They would later give me a mini heart attack by doing flips off these rocks.

The water was so clear that you can see the fish without snorkeling.

They love to climb rocks!

I loved watching them play.

This is what he does when I try to take his picture.

We got some coconuts from a street vendor and then headed back to the port to catch a ferry back to Cancun.

It was such a fun day! After dinner we settled in to watch the Olympics and then headed home the next day.

I loved going on vacation, but it's also very nice to be back at home!