Let's Look at Summer Wardrobe

Happy July -  less than 6 more months until Christmas! I'm so excited to jump in on Shay and Erika's Let's Look series. This is my first Let's Look post and it's a little boring because my summer wardrobe is all shorts, tanks and workout clothes. That's a staple for anyone living in Texas. I can almost guarantee it.

Most days, I don't even bother changing out of my workout clothes. I work out almost every morning and not matter how many times I intend to get dressed, I don't get to it because I get distracted. Ha! I'm wearing these lululemon short and and an old athleta tank. Nearly all the workout clothes I own are from lululemon or athleta because I love the quality and customer service. 

If I do change out of my workout clothes, it is most likely I will change into swimsuits and cover-ups. Like I said, summer in Texas is no joke.

On the few days that I do get dressed, it is a variation of something like this - shorts, tank and sandals. A thing about these shorts - they are my favorite shorts ever. I seriously have these in 7 colors. They are from J Crew Factory and are super flattering. I love the scallop hem and the A-line shape. 

Same shorts in white....

If I'm going out to lunch or dinner, I'll throw on a dress like this. My dress is old, but here's a similar version. There's not a whole lot of going out to dinner lately though.

Friday Favorites

Another Friday in the age of Corona! I'm starting to feel pretty bummed out about all our cancelled summer plans. We had Rosemary Beach, California (family visits) and Hawaii (me & Michael trip) on our calendar this summer. Poof - all cancelled. 

Then a couple of weeks ago, M found some availability in a Ft. Lauderdale resort and booked it.  This week, the news coming out of S. Florida about COVID 19 was so bad that we were afraid the beaches would close down while we were there so we cancelled this trip too. 

Enough of my pity-party. Let's get to my Friday Faves for this week. Linking with Andrea and Erika again  to get a little Feel-good Friday going.

{ONE}

My pool is one of my favorite this week. We've been swimming a ton and I'm so thankful to have a pool that we can cool down with during the Texas summer heat.

{TWO}

Celebrating this guy's 15th birthday! He is such a sweet boys and we love him so much.

{THREE}

So can you all believe that I've never had avocado toast? I don't know why, but I've never really wanted to try. Well, the other day, I had some avocado that needed to be used before it got bad so I decided to put it on toast and sprinkle it with some seafood seasoning. It was relish. It will be my go-to breakfast now, I think. 

{FOUR}

This swimsuit. I haven't bought one-piece bathing suit in years because going to the bathroom in them is such a pain. I saw this one on one of the blogs I read. It had such good reviews and looked so cute, I decided to order it from Amazon. I LOVE it. I love the coverage, it's flattering and the quality it great for the price. 

The print I have is not available anymore, but there are tons of other colors. 

{FIVE}

Our road trip to Turner Falls is a favorite this week. It wasn't a great destination, but the car ride there with our friends was fun. I love how these kids get along so well!

What's Up Wednesday

Wow- this came up quick. I cannot believe we are at the end of June already. I haven't join this series in a long time because I had taken an unintentional break from this blog. I'm joining Sheaffer and Shay today for What's Up Wednesday. Sounds fun, right?

what we're eating this week

My go-to meal is something on the grill. It's easy, I can have a variety of protein to suit my picky eaters and clean-up is quick especially if I serve it on paper plates. Listen, I'm not trying to win any culinary awards. Just trying to keep my people alive.

Grilled steak and chicken fajitas will make it's round on our dinner menu and grilled sausages and hotdogs will make our lunch menu this week.

what I'm reminiscing about this week

Being in California with my family. Every year around this time, we head out to California to visit my family for at least two weeks. I'm sad that we won't get to do it this year and that my kids won't get to hang out with their cousins. This will be our first summer since we've moved to TX that we won't spend some time in California during the summer.

One of our traditions is to go visit my alma mater - Santa Clara University. It's such beautiful campus. We go the the bookstore and each boy gets to pick out something.

what I'm loving

Honestly, just being home without much to do. We've been able to spend a lot of time outside because the weather has been pretty good lately. I know that this probably won't last so we are taking it outside as much as we can.

what we've been up to

I've been helping Michael schedule some college visits and getting him ready to start applying to colleges. WHAT??!!! I'm totally not ready for this HUGE milestone yet. We got in a couple of universities during Spring Break before everything shut down. Colleges are starting to open up for college visits so here we go again.

Here's what we've got scheduled in the next couple of months...

Matthew is working on getting his learners permit. WHAT??!!! I keep saying this, but oh my word, where has the time gone....

what I'm dreading

The Texas summer heat and not being able to get away from it with a beach trip somewhere. Ha! Anybody else?

what I'm working on

Cleaning out some closets. Well, that is the goal anyway. I haven't gone through the boys' closets in so long and I know that there are things in there that really need to go!

what I'm excited about

I'm excited about visiting colleges again with Michael. It's always great to be able to spend some time with him. I'm excited to be able to go through this journey with him and at the end of this, I hope he finds a place that he loves and that he will thrive in. I'm happy to be able to help him through this process.

what I'm reading/watching

I haven't been reading anything at the moment. M and I have been enjoying a lot of The West Wing and The Practice together. 

I've started watching Friday Night Lights and Sweet Magnolia. I've only seen a couple of episodes of each so I'm not sure how I like them yet.

what I'm wearing

I'm wearing lots of workout clothes, swimsuits, and shorts and tanks! Super boring stuff.

what I'm doing this weekend

Absolutely nothing. And I'm OK with it...

what I'm looking forward to next month

Fourth of July. Usually, our town puts on a whole production for 4th of July in our town square - bounce houses, vendors, kids' activities, music and then the firework show. This year will be different, obviously. They are only doing fireworks. The great part though is that it will be at a park right down the street from our house so we don't even have to go anywhere to see it.

what else is new

Not a thing!

What We've Been Doing

It's been a rainy start to our week here. So much so that we've discovered that we have some leaks all around the house. Yikes! Not fun at all. 

I do love the cooler weather especially since we will not be going on any vacations this summer. So many summer vacations planned cancelled. Oh well - I know it could be worse.

Anyway, we are chugging right along here. Summer has been uneventful and since Michael has decided not to play club soccer anymore, there hasn't been many activities to get to.

This past week, we celebrated Matthew's 15th birthday! He has been taking his driver's education online and has completed the 6 hours needed to get a permit. Bad news is I couldn't get an appointment for him at the DPS until early August to get his permit. Good news? He doesn't really care about driving too much.

Speaking of DPS, Michael finally got his official license last Wednesday. It was a huge ordeal - 2 years in the making. When he passed his driving test, the DPS offices were still closed so we sent his paperwork to the central office to process. I emailed 3 weeks after we sent it off and they told it hasn't even been opened. Luckily, had a feeling that something like this would happen so I made an appointment for him right when DPS offices started opening up. So now he can officially drive without me in the car!

Me and the big boys also volunteered a few more days at Feed Our Kids. They were not happy about getting up earlier than usual.

We've been swimming a lot around here! This little guy loves the water! He's also learned to ride his two-wheeler bike so he's been out doing that with the neighbor kids almost everyday when it's not wet outside. "Learn" is probably not the right word. He just decided to get on a 2-wheeler one evening and started riding it. Not falls, no fuss. He just got on and did it, just like how Matthew "learned" to ride. So proud of him!

We went over to G-pa's house on Father's Day to wish him a happy Father's Day. We don't usually make a big deal out of these Hallmark holidays. I just wanted a nice picture of them which they agreed to pretty easily - I think they know there's no point in fighting it anymore. Ha!

Yesterday, we took a road trip to Turner Falls with our good friends, the Morrisons. I've read about Turner Falls for about a year now and wanted to check it out. I didn't really know what to expect because some reviews say it was amazing and others warned that it was busy and dirty. My opinion leaned towards the latter review. 

I think the kids had fun, but they were not impressed that they were not able to jump off the water falls. The water grossed me out a little too. I would probably not go back.

On our way back home, we decided to stop at Buc-ee's. I got some Beaver Nuggets for the first time. I can't believe I've waited this long to discover it!

Our little raised-bed garden is doing really well! We have lots of jalapeños and tomatoes. I'm so excited that these are ripening up AND we are getting more new itty-bitty tomatoes. I have basil and rosemary in there too and we've used it several times since we planted them. Now I want another bed for next Spring and Summer!

Matthew Turns 15!

It's a happy Monday because today, my middle monkey turns 15! Happy birthday to my sweet Matthew. He's 15 and will still cuddle with me. He is crazy smart and super stubborn. He's the one with the great big smile.

I was looking through his baby pictures and it makes me so sad to see how time has flown by. It was just yesterday that he was born, wasn't it?  Wasn't it just yesterday when he first started kindergarten? Now he's going on to his 2nd year in high school! How can this be?

We had a quiet celebration today with a quick dinner out at a teppanyaki restaurant. All the boys want teppanyaki for dinner on their birthdays!

Then we came home for cake. His request was for cheesecake!

Matthew, you are my heart and I love you so much. I am so proud of you. I hope this 15th year is filled with nothing but greatness!