Back to School: Kinder Edition

"You're off to great places, today is your day!  Your mountain is waiting, So... get on your way!"

I'm still a little in disbelief that the hubs and I have an almost-6 year old who will experience his first full day of elementary school as a kinder in one week from today.  But he is so ready and is going to make one awesome little student.

Kingston and I had a special back to school shopping date a couple of weeks ago and I treated him to lunch -- McDonald's, his choice.  Afterwards, we went to a few of our usual spots and scored some pretty good deals on a few pieces that should hold the boy until Christmas (I hope). 

He is ready for blue Fridays (go Seahawks!), warm days and cooler days, to earn his first faux Letterman's hoody, and of course sport a little Star Wars for good measure.  We haven't decided what he'll wear on his first day yet, but I sure hope I leave the tears behind -- I have a feeling this first day will be one of the hardest!  

Let's Call it a Blogging Sabbatical...

I guess you can say my sister inspired me to get back at it with the blogging, after she wrote a post a few days ago about Banana Cupcakes.  So, I dusted off the laptop, poured myself a glass of water, and started to think of something super entertaining to post that would bring some attention back to this space and hope to at least have one reader in the future.

We'll see how that goes.

But for now, I leave you with this super awesome Instagram selfie Cole and I took of ourselves last night and a few updated photos of the family to the left.

My posts can only go up from here, right?

Stay Tuned...

{Week 12} The Boys

{Using Instagram this week to help me with my weekly photo post.}

Kingston, Week 12: Testing out the monkey bars at the playground over the weekend.

Cole, Week 12: Crawling through a tube in the preschool portion of the playground.

This weekend was too nice to sit in doors... I hope you had a nice one!

{Following the 52 Week Photo Project... taking one photo each week of our boys in 2014.}

We {Heart} Spring.

What a beautiful way to welcome Spring!  No rain, slightly warmer temps, and a little sun is definitely a good thing in my book.  The outdoors have been calling our names lately, so we spent last night and today enjoying it.  Doesn't help with projects and crafts I wanted to get done around the house, but sometimes you just have to be flexible.  Have a wonderful weekend, friends!  

{Instagram} Softball Saturday

One of my new favorite photos of my guys.  After at least one game on any given softball weekend, you will find the hubs and Kingston running the bases together.  This last Saturday, Cole joined in on the fun... although he did not run in the same direction as they did.  Love these men of mine.

A Little Flipagram on this NYE.

Be safe and have fun tonight, friends.

We're excited to see what 2014 has in store for us...

because 2013 has been one for the books.

{see the full video on my Instagram account}

Elf on the Shelf Failure.

Yeah, you read that right.  I'm marking our adventures with Mr. Jingle Bells as such.  You see, with the holiday season this year came a visit from our good friend, Mr. Jingle Bells.  We adopted our Elf on the Shelf last year as a fun tradition to look forward to every Christmas. Thanks to Pinterest, I have been looking forward to our visit.  Since this is our second year with Mr. Jingle Bells, I opted to keep it easy and do a few creative searches on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays during the month of December before Christmas.  The rest of the week would be just a simple "Where is Mr. Jingle Bells Today" search.  

For the creative days, I made sure to find ones that my four year old would enjoy. I pinned many pins and organized my thoughts... but never did I think I would have the reactions Kingston has given me with each and every creative day.  

Let me break them down for you: 

• Day 1: Mr. Jingle Bells is here, bringing donuts to celebrate.  Kingston smiled.  And kind of just stared at him next to our Santa figurine.  He then clarified that Santa brought cookies, the elf brought donuts. 
• Day 6: Mr. Jingle Bells goes potty before Kingston.  Sure to get laughs, I thought.  Then I hear from the hubs that Kingston explained to him exactly how it went down.  How momma swirled the green coloring in the toilet and how he could find it in the pantry to show daddy, if he really wanted to know how it was done.  Keep in mind, I set our elf up well after Kingston has fallen asleep and without saying one word while doing it.  Yikes.
• Day 7: Mr. Jingle Bells is held hostage by Kingston's super heroes.  What a flop.  Upon seeing this, Kingston tells the hubs that his action figures don't move.  Ouch.
• Day 8: Mr. Jingle Bells goes fishing... for crackers, as Kingston tells me.  Hmmm.
• Day 13: Mr. Jingle Bells makes a snowflake on our dining room table.  Or a spiderweb, Kingston says, somewhat unimpressed.  Come on! 
• Day 14: Mr. Jingle Bells plays Skylanders (not pictured).  Skylanders are pretty much Kingston's most favorite thing in the world right now.  After the reactions I was getting, I thought for sure he would like this one... but he didn't even react.  In fact, I don't think he noticed Mr. Jingle Bells was "playing Skylanders" until I pointed it out... after Kingston had yanked the control from underneath him and started playing himself.  Eh.
• Day 15: Mr. Jingle Bells wishes Kingston a "Merry Christmas" with a balloon on our holiday card display (not pictured).  Okay, Kingston was sort of excited about this one.  At least about the balloon.  

This coming Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be my last creative attempt to impress Kingston with Mr. Jingle Bells.  We'll see how it goes.  Do you do Elf on the Shelf?  How is it working for you - and is your preschooler also a semi non-believer?

Maybe it will go a little better next year.  Or maybe I'll just wait to work my magic on Cole... one of my boys is sure to think Mr. Jingle Bells is pretty magical, right? 

PB + Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yep.  These happened over the weekend.  And they were fabulous.

There is just something about gloomy, Fall-like weather that makes me want to bake up a storm.

Not gonna lie - these were cheater cookies (i.e. from a box, add butter and water... and gold sprinkles).  But sometimes you just have to roll like that.

I'm wishing I would've made double the batch... then maybe we would still have some in our kitchen.  Maybe. Not.

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{photo credit: my instagram account... are you checking out this goodness?  link in above menu bar}

So many pears!

We have lived in our home for almost six years, and our pear tree (that came with the house) has only ever produced one pear... until this Summer. We have pears coming out of our ears!  Seriously, friends - this photo does not do our pear situation justice.

While I have given some away, I am looking for fun recipes to use these lovelies in before they go bad.  So far, I have found these ones:

Spiced Pear Cake with Browned Butter Icing

Pear and Walnut Muffins

Did you open those links and check the recipes out?  Sound delish.  But I'm looking for a variety of ways to use pears.  So, if you have any suggestions (other than canning), please let me know!

Summer Soccer

We decided to sign Kingston up for summer soccer this year - the first year he is eligible to play.

To get him pumped up, we picked out some shin guards and socks to go with his hand-me-down soccer cleats over the weekend.  The boy thought he was Joe Cool with his "gear" on... so you know I had to take a picture.

Kingston ran around our house for a good 15 - 20 minutes "practicing soccer" by himself.  We were rolling.

But seriously - how cute are those little legs all dressed up and ready to go?!  I die.

Practice starts June 17th, games June 24th.  More photos to come, for sure.

{Brothers}

Last Friday, we had the most beautiful weather.  So we bundled up and headed to the park in the afternoon.  I snuck this photo of Kingston helping push Cole in the stroller in the parking lot.  I love how helpful Kingston is - he really is the best big brother.


{This photo can be found on my Instagram account - click on the link in the menu above to view it or my other Instagram photos.}

Instagram Challenge: 5 Photos "Looking Up"

From left to right:  Cole looking up at me, Knight Kingston looking up at his sword/sky on Halloween, looking up at my Anthro kitchen timer, looking up at two little hand prints on our fireplace mantel (see blog post HERE), and looking up at a fun/colorful lantern on a shelf in my kitchen.

Last Friday I was tagged by a good blog friend of mine to participate in a fun little challenge via Instagram.  Such a fun idea; when you post your photo of the day, you then have the task of tagging five other friends (each with their unique theme) in hopes that they will participate.  So far, four of the five ladies I tagged have accepted the challenge and I cannot wait to see how creative they get.

To see each of the photos above (to include who I tagged and who tagged me), click on the "Instagram" link in the menu bar above.      

Party Sunnies and BFFs.

We spent Saturday afternoon celebrating our friends' two sons Sam and Sawyer's birthdays.  Such fun, sweet little boys... Kingston was thrilled to be invited over for their birthday festivities.  Because he gave up naps awhile ago (ugh) and did not take one that day, Kingston was a little grumpy towards the end... but perked up when he was handed his beloved party favor goody bag.  His favorite item?  The silly "sunglasses" pictured above.

"We need to put them in your car, momma." - I am assuming so that he can wear them when it is sunny out?  I am loving his little imagination and thoughts he shares these days.  

Their littlest guy, Max (on the right in the photo above) is definitely a cutie and sure to be our little Cole's future bestie.  They are super cute together and I love that they are only 2 days apart in age.  Cole slept for pretty much the entire party (party on on, Cole!), but woke up at the end for a few minutes to take the above photo and say goodbye.

Oh, and both photos were taken and edited via Instagram.