What's Up Wednesday

It's the last Wednesday of the month so that that means today I am linking up with Shay, Shaeffer and Mel for What's Up Wednesday!! Grab a cup of coffee and settle in, this one is a doozy :).

1. What we’re eating this week…

Not much that is too exciting.  We had breakfast for dinner on Sunday because the girls love scrambled eggs (just like their mama :)) and on Monday after soccer practice we headed to Chick-fil-a to use up our calendar.  The girls are getting to be so funny together. Last night on the playground, Emma introduced herself to all the other kids as Elsa, informed them that she already had one baby named baby Yoga (otherwise known as Everly) and had another baby on the way named baby Elanor.  Ev's did not help out the situation by crawling on the floor saying 'me baby Yoga'.

p.s. this is my new favorite Everly face- she makes this face anytime that she is really trying to get her point across.  Which is all the time, just in case you were wondering ;).

2. What I’m reminiscing about…

Our six days in Mexico. You don’t realize how much you need a vacation like this until you get there and you realize- wow, I have no kids- just my hubby! and you get to reconnect without interruptions and snack making and bedtime routines and to top it all off, we got to hang out with friends.  As much as I love and adore my two girls (even traveling with them), this vacation was invaluable and I was so happy that we were able to make it happen.

3. What I’m loving…

That Ev’s is warming up to ‘characters’.  Back in February, we went to Disney World and Ev’s would not get close to any characters.  This is more of her personality versus not liking characters so we were not disappointed because we expected it.

However, at our church picnic this weekend- she actually wanted to go up to Olaf and kept giving him hugs and trying to hold his hand!

I know this is such a little thing, but I love seeing my shy girl come out of her shell one step at a time.

4. What we’ve been up to…

Attending any and every church picnic possible ;).

And soccer practice.  I have to tell you as a mom of two little ones with primarily unstructured weekends (we do a lot of activities with the girls, but they are activities that we choose and at the time we choose them), soccer has taken a little getting used to with practice on Monday night and games every Saturday at 10am.  It’s hard to believe that soon we will be busy balancing two schedules #firstworldproblems #iknow.

5. What I’m dreading…

Not too much, actually.

6. What I’m working on…

Literally speaking- quarter close. Exciting, huh??!!

Also, Wes is ready to get started on our kitchen remodel. Here is the shortlist: I want to paint the cabinets, paint the wall color, take out the island, get new counter tops, install new back splash, buy new lighting, and install a farmhouse sink and all of that sounds really good and not too expensive in the grand scheme of things, but I want white cabinets and we have off white tile and I know it will look terrible.  And so I know we will have to replace the floors and that sounds super expensive. And for some reason I just can't quite bite the bullet and say yes, go for it honey.  That was a really long story to say that I am working on overcoming my fears and saying yes!

7. What I’m excited about…

Fall. The temperatures (that hopefully drop!), pumpkin spice everything, wearing scarves and flannel, the Dallas Arboretum pumpkin patch, the State Fair of Texas, taking my gang to College Station, trick or treating at the zoo, soccer weekends- I just literally love everything about this coming month.  Here are a few pictures of us doing some of those things last year!

8. What I’m watching/reading…

Well, not much has changed on the reading front- while in Mexico, I did catch up on my US Weekly magazine subscription and 10 weeks’ worth of celebrity gossip; however, fall TV is back! Big Bang Theory, Survivor and Amazing Race are our favorites and as I mentioned last month- I have been LOVING every week of Ladies of London.

9. What I’m listening to…

I think I should permanently skip this question.  I listen to Taylor Swift and KRLD talk radio. Boring, I know ;).

10. What I’m wearing…

Ohhhh, I actually remembered to take a few pictures this week of what I have been wearing.

Dress. Necklace. Shoes.

I really wanted this tee to work out; I have the same tee that is striped in two colors, but this one was too loose and baggy at the bottom so it is going back.  I ended up wearing a navy and white stripe shirt to our second church picnic.

Shirt. Scarf.

Shirt. Scarf.

11. What I’m doing this weekend…

This weekend we don’t have many plans- Emma has a soccer game at 10, Wes may go golfing and we may or may not go to another church picnic (some of Emma's school friends invited us) or take the girls to Six Flags.

12. What I’m looking forward to next month…

Halloween!! This used to be my least favorite holiday- but family costumes, preschool Halloween parades and our church's trick-or-treat carnival has changed my mind- I just love it all!

13. What else is new…

Wes has gotten really into light shows (not sure if there is a more technical name for this kind of activity); originally we were just going to do Christmas, but now he has added a Halloween light show as well. We have our own radio station and everything! Anyways once we got back from Mexico, he started to prep for the show and we ran a test on it this last Saturday and I think it is going to be AWESOME!!! It is so weird to see what he has been working so hard on his computer come to life on our actual house. I took a few pictures and will come back with a full video once we have everything set up and ready to go.

14. What’s my favorite Halloween tradition…

Family costumes for sure.  And not store bought family costumes- I love the homemade ones.  This started not very non-traditionally- two years ago, Wes and I were dressing up like Duck Dynasty and we realized we had a little duck costume for Everly so even though we were a family of four, it was just the three of us that matched (Emma was an elephant J). 

But, because it was so much fun- we decided to make it a tradition.  Last year, we went all out as the Texas Rangers Dot Race.

And we have big plans for this year; stay tuned!

The Magic of Face Painting

This past weekend was the weekend of church picnic's :).  We went to Austin's church picnic on Saturday and our church picnic on Sunday- we were church picnicked out by the end of it all! We had a blast at both of the picnic's, but hands down my favorite part was watching Emma and Everly get their face and arm (respectively) painted.

Emma is a a bundle of energy and goes full throttle from the minute she wakes up to the minute that she goes to bed, but she sat as still as possible, with her eyes closed from the beginning.

It was uncharacteristic and surreal and she just looked so darn grown up.

It was just one of those parenting moments that makes you realize your toddler is less like a baby and much more like a little kid which makes me sad and happy all at the same time.

She was extra excited about the glitter.

Sitting just as still as can be waiting to be told to open her eyes.

Checking herself out- I just love that big smile :).

Once it was over, she was back to 90 mph so I had to get an action shot to highlight the completed painting.  She was just the cutest.

Evsie's was up next- even though she really wanted it on her face, the lady suggested her arm so we just went for it.  The rest of the day she kept saying "but-fly off arm. on face." but overall, she also enjoyed the process.

Even though baby Seodore was there, Emma stayed by Ev's side the entire time spontaneously rubbing her back and telling Everly, "it's ok, I'm right here".

I didn't get too many great pictures of the finished product, I wasn't focusing my camera correctly, but just imagine it looked like Emma's with different colors ;).

Proud of the finished product :).

We had so much fun at the church picnics- I can't wait to show you more pictures!