What’s Up Wednesday

Happy middle of the week to you all!  Can’t believe it is the last Wednesday of March already.  I recently came across this super fun link-up, so today I am joining up with Shay, Sheaffer  and Mel for What’s Up Wednesday.  A quick little glimpse about what is going on around here!

 

What We’re Eating This Week

Since we have been on vacation the first half of the week, we have not been eating at home.  While I enjoy eating out occasionally, I don’t do too well eating out meal after meal.  We eat pretty healthy around here, so one of my biggest stressors when we travel is the food.  When we are on vacation I try to find a balance between making sure my kids eat fairly healthy and allowing them to eat more “junk” than they usually get!  😉

So instead, I’m sharing a few meals that I am planning when we get back home!

First up is this delicious Greek chicken salad with homemade pita bread and Tzatziki sauce.  Homemade pita bread is amazing.  It is actually quick to throw together, but does take a little bit of time to cook.  I usually save this meal for the weekend or a weeknight with nothing going on (which is extremely rare these days).

My quick and easy ground turkey tacos recipe is another one going on the menu next week.  This one is super easy to make on a weeknight.  Best part is you can customize the recipe a bit for different taste buds in your family!

What I’m Reminiscing About

My oldest daughter is on a dance team that performs in Disneyland every spring.  Two years ago we took all three kids.  It was our first trip with our youngest, who was 7 months old at the time.  I will never forget her trying to “eat” Mickey’s nose when she met him!  Wish I knew what she was thinking at that very moment!

What I’m Loving

My sweet little toddler spends so much time these days reading her books.  And let me tell you, our house is overflowing with them!  We pretty much have a basket in every room with books.  It has always been that way, and I am happy to report that all of my kiddos enjoy reading.  As a former teacher I cannot stress enough how important it is giving your little ones access to books! Okay, that is my PSA for the day! 😉

She also has recently started to really enjoy going to the library.  Last time she said, “I don’t want to leave!”

What We’ve Been Up To

We are in the midst of spring break, and have spent the first half of it visiting family in Las Vegas.  Unfortunately two of our family members were down with a stomach bug while we were there.  My son had it earlier in the week, but thought we were all in the clear!  My oldest daughter came down with it our first day in Vegas, my husband our last night, and then my daughter had a relapse that last night as well!

Due to the illness, we didn’t all get out as much as we had hoped.  Not our best spring break trip, but we tried to make the best of it!  I actually didn’t end up taking too many pictures, but that is life sometimes!

There are actually a lot of things to do in Vegas with kids.  While we weren’t able to hit all of them on our list, we did manage to squeeze in a few while everyone was feeling ok.  First up was the Discovery Children’s Museum.  While my toddler enjoyed it the most, there were some activities that my older kids liked, including trying to design a roller coaster (below).  Took several tries before my oldest was able to create one where the cars didn’t fly off the track!

Siegfried and Roy’s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat was another family friendly activity we explored on our last day in Las Vegas.  They actually had a baby dolphin, which my toddler was completely smitten by.

My son was pretty much in heaven in the M&Ms World Store.  An entire wall of M&M’s in so many colors! This is just a small sample!

Just walking around and checking out the insides of some of the casinos and shopping areas is fun for the kids as well. This is in the shopping center at Caesars Palace.

We also took the kids to a magic show, which they absolutely loved!  It was their first real legit magic show.  Even my two year old sat through it and enjoyed watching.

One of the best parts about our trip was the suite we stayed in that had this amazing view of the strip!

What I’m Dreading

Flying on all these airplanes.  Do not love it! I’m better about it now that I have kids to distract me during the flight, but I still hate it.  I don’t like take off, I don’t like any bumps, and I really don’t like landing.  I’m pretty much a ball of stress the entire flight.  The one exception is when I see views like this one out of my window (Crater Lake).  That is when I am lucky enough to snag the window seat with three kids!

What I’m Working On

I am a serious planner.  Probably a bit extreme if you ask my husband.  However, lately I have been in a bit of a slump.  Not writing down my daily to-dos or when I do, not checking my planner.  It has been leading to too many unproductive days, and I need to get back on track.  I feel so much better about my day when I can cross things off my list!

I use a separate planner for my family and for my blog, which you can read more about in this past Friday Favorites post, but both are created by Day Designer.

What I’m Excited About

Spring!  I am so lucky to live in a place where we have so many beautiful spring trees and flowers that are beginning to bloom! I’m also so very excited for warmer weather.  I really should live somewhere it is 80 degrees year round.  I am always cold. Bring on the sunshine!

What I’m Watching/Reading

Confession time.  I love reading, but I never read.  I just can’t seem to find the time.  So currently, on my nightstand are four books I am determined to read this spring.  I just picked up The Family Next Door from the library, so started that one first on the airplane. Didn’t get very far though because I was sitting next to my toddler…Has anyone read any of these books?

What I’m Listening To

Ed Sheeran.  Need I say more?  I could pretty much listen to him all day long.  I saw him in concert several years ago when he opened for Taylor Swift on her Red tour.  From that moment I was hooked!  Especially loving his song, Perfect.  I know it has been out for a while, but I just can’t play it enough!

No Roots by Alice Merton is another one of my current favorites.  If you haven’t heard it, take a listen!  One of the older competitive teams at my daughter’s dance studio has a routine to this song and it is AMAZING.  Those girls are so talented!

What I’m Wearing

Lately I have rediscovered Old Navy.  For several years I haven’t really purchased much there unless it was for my kids.  However, I have found some really cute pieces there on some recent trips so thought I would share!

This navy striped lace-up dress, also from Old Navy, is another one of my favorite spring finds.  Since it still isn’t super warm here yet, I am pairing it with my jean jacket and white converse sneakers for now.  The dress also comes in solid navy.

If you are in the market for dresses for spring and summer, a few weeks ago I shared a few of my favorites from Old Navy. 

I’m also loving these pjs I picked up a few weeks ago.  The pink pajama t-shirt is really soft, and I adore the print on the pajama pants.

What I’m Doing This Weekend

We had plans to spend the end of spring break at the beach this weekend, but with that darn stomach bug still running through my family we decided to lay low and stay home.  Probably a good choice, but the coast is one of our favorite places to escape to, and the weather was supposed to be nice which is always a bonus.  It is so amazingly beautiful!!

What I’m Looking Forward to Next Month

April is a crazy month in our house.  Pretty much every weekend is booked with dance or baseball, but I’m actually so excited about all of it!

Baseball games can be long, but I love watching my boy play.  The hardest part of baseball games is keeping my toddler occupied.  Or rather, she is always occupied by something and I am always having to keep her out of trouble!

Can’t wait to cheer him on this spring!

What Else Is New

We finally allowed my oldest daughter to have her own phone (my old one, so new to her, but not brand new!).  I found a great contract in the book iPhone Rules that I altered a bit for our family. She is super responsible, so things have gone really smoothly so far.  She is allowed to text some of her friends, and their conversations are so funny.  Yes, I check them occasionally, and she knows that.

I had mixed feelings about handing her a phone at 11 (almost 12).  We do have quite a few restrictions though in terms of what she can do on it (absolutely no social media accounts) and the times she can use it.  I know it will be a constant conversation with her about using it responsibly.  However, I do feel that as technology is going to be (and already is), such a huge part of her life, she needs to learn to use it responsibly with us guiding her along the way.

I love being able to “talk” to her quickly during the day via text when she is at lunch or on her way home.  Like last week someone accidentally spilled vinegar on her backpack during science and she sent me a quick text about how bad her backpack smelled!  I gave her a few tips, but by the time I responded, her friend was already helping her clean up the mess.  Just like having those little insights into her day!

I know that many families choose not to let their kids have cell phones until they are older, and I completely respect that.  We made this choice after a lot of thought and consideration about what works best for our family.  For those of you with kiddos with phones, I would love it if you have any great tips!

That is a wrap on my first What’s Up Wednesday!  I had fun writing this one, so hoping you had fun reading!