Fri-YAY!

Friday, July 29, 2016

Whoop whoop! It's Friday again! I thought this day would never come. For some reason this week dragged on and on. Every night this week we had something going on which made for extra long days -- Monday, we had Mason's new ABA therapist; Tuesday, Seth had softball; Wednesday, we had Mason's other ABA therapist; Thursday, Mason had his four year old check up; and today, Friday, we have a going away dinner for some friends that are moving. Pair that with a wedding on Saturday night and a birthday brunch on Sunday and we're set to have a busy weekend as well! Phew. I'm tired just thinking about it.

But before we skip ahead too far... here are my super random Friday Five.


ONE.
New favorite drink combo.


My mother in law showed me a drink combo very similar to this a couple weeks ago. She'd been drinking a splash of juice (cranberry, cherry, or pomegranate) with Pellegrino sparkling water. I tried it and LOVED it. I don't normally buy Ocean Spray juice but when it was on sale last week at the grocery store, I thought I'd give the combo a try for myself. I picked up this cran-pomegrante juice and some Pure Lacroix and LOVED the combo. I seriously have been having this drink non-stop all week. It's just a SPLASH of juice and then filled with a can of water and add ice. It gives the water a little flavor without getting all the calories and sugar of a glass of juice. Seriously. SO GOOD.


TWO.
iCal not saving things.

I used to use my phone as my only planner. But then I started to notice that it was deleting things. I could swear up and down that a certain event or reminder was in my phone yet I couldn't find it. So, to remedy the situation, I put things in my phone short term and then transfer them over to my paper planner. While it is a bit annoying to need two planners and to have to remember to carry my paper one around with me, I know that things don't mysteriously disappear off my paper planner like my iCal.

But anyway, the point to my story is... can someone help me? I've gone into my settings and changed everything that I can think of but my iCal on my phone only seems to sync "one time events" back a month whereas it keeps "repeating events" for always. You see, I use my phone for reminders. I set an event in my calendar and have it pop up with a reminder. For instance, on Mason's birthday, I had a reminder to not forget his birthday cupcakes. Before that, I had a reminder to order a stroller on Amazon for Disneyland at the beginning of the month. And last month  had a reminder to remember to leave the check out for the house cleaners. Random things like that. I also have events like Mason's speech appointments and ABA sessions. These things happen at the same time every week for an infinite (undetermined) number of weeks. These are the "repeating" events I was referring to. If I go back to, say, January those events as well as birthdays and such are still there. But random little reminders to pick up my prescription at Target are not. What am I doing wrong? I don't want events to only sync back a month. That's not nearly long enough. I just scheduled a hair cut for Mason and I tried to find out when his last one was and it was gone! I want at least like 6 months to a year of syncing. Help!


THREE.
Health app not working?

Top left : Me before we walked to the car // Top right : Me after we walked to the car
Bottom left : Seth before we walked to the car // Bottom right : Seth after we walked to the car
Me walking to the car : 1,386 steps // Seth walking to the car : 2,008 steps


Since apparently I'm using today's post as a forum for help... here's a problem I've been having. I've been loving using my phone's health app as a pedometer. I love seeing how many steps I take in a day. So when we went to Disneyland last weekend, I was so excited to see how many thousands of steps I would take. Seth and I were together all day, both had our phones on us, and neither one really left each other where one would walk more than the other. So when we checked our phones at the end of the day, before we left, I was shocked to see he had SO many more steps than me! I knew for sure something was wrong (you know, in my expert opinion). So we tested it. We each screen shotted the totals before we walked to the parking garage and after. We (expertly lol) determined that we walked the same speed and had the same strides so when we got to the garage and he had, again, MORE steps than me, I was shocked! Am I doing something wrong? Do I need to calibrate the app to my stride or something? Help!


FOUR.
Essential Oils.


About three-ish years ago, I tried essential oils for the first time. I was visiting my friend and she shared some with us when we were staying over at her house. She put some lavender in a diffuser in our room and I swear I had the best sleep I'd ever had in my life. I inquired more about them and ended up getting a starter set. We used them a bit with Mason and to be honest, I didn't really see a difference. I kind of put them on the back burner and haven't really looked at them since. And then I was browsing Pinterest the other day and came across this pin. And I got to thinking. I've been looking into it a bit more and asking various friends for input and their opinions and I think I may give it a try. I figure, why not? My only problem is, which company? I've been doing a good amount of research and I think I know which way I'm leaning. The oils I used in the past were DoTerra but now I'm thinking Young Living. But I'm really torn! Regardless of which company I choose, I'm just excited that I found another way to (hopefully!) help Mason. Also, any advice or recommendations are welcome!


FIVE.
Foodie for a Year.



This Tuesday, August 2nd, is our next Foodie for a Year link up! This month's topic is to share a quick and easy week night meal. I, for one, am SUPER excited for this topic! As a working mom whose working husband does all the cooking, we NEED quick and easy week night meal options. I have a good amount that are on a regular rotation but I'm always looking to add something new and exciting! I'm excited to see what everyone shares.

Happy Weekend!


[4th Birthday] Disneyland.

Thursday, July 28, 2016

This past weekend we went to Disneyland to celebrate Mason's birthday. I had been thinking about it for a while - spending a day at Disneyland vs having a birthday party (and blogged about it here for the Anaheim Moms Blog). Ultimately, I decided to give Mason an experience vs a birthday party and I am so glad I did! Not only did we get to spend a fun day at Disneyland, but we also got to celebrate my niece and my sister in law as well. Annnnnnnd..... WE GOT PASSES. I'd been wanting one for a while but Seth wasn't 100% on board (they are pretty expensive). But after a little convincing and mayyyyyybe not really giving him a choice (hey, he didn't really object so I consider that an agreement) and we are now annual pass holders for the next year! I figured if we were going to do it, now was the time. Mason is still young enough where we can take him out of school to go on a weekday without feeling bad about it. Next year he should be in kindergarten and I don't want to take him out of school unless it's absolutely necessary.

But enough about that. We spent the first day of our new annual pass holder-ship bouncing between Disneyland and California Adventure and had the.best.time.


We got to the park a little bit before my sister in law, brother in law, and nieces, so we stopped by City Hall to get a birthday button (that Mason promptly ripped off his shirt as soon as I put it on), hit up Starbucks (I HAD to get a picture with my shirt and a Disney Starbucks!), went on Autopia, and stopped by the Disneyland mail box.





I let him drive. It was the worst decision ever. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. as we went bumping from side to side on the little rail that was keeping us on track. The kid was more interested in sight seeing than driving the car!


I saw this mailbox posted on an Instagram account that I follow and knew I HAD to have Mason mail a letter from there so I (I mean, Mickey), wrote Mason a letter for Mason to mail to himself from Mickey.



After we mailed Mason's letter, we headed over to It's a Small World, took some pictures, rode the ride, and then left to meet our family over at CA Adventure.




We met our family at CA Adventure and went on a couple rides in Carsland before heading down to the wharf to have lunch. The last time we were there, I got this WONDERFUL chicken, apple, walnut salad in a bread bowl at Boudin's (they put everything in a bread bowl whether you want it or not but the bread is SO GOOD that you're not mad) and I got the same thing this time. We ate, we went on the new Soarin' Over the World ride, the Little Mermaid ride, and a couple more rides in Carsland and then grabbed a churro (Disney has THE BEST CHURROS) before heading back over to Disneyland.

His hands in his pockets! All the heart eyes.





Once at Disneyland, we stopped by Starbucks (again) and hit up the Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean before calling it a day. Seth, Mason, and I were hungry so we stopped by the corn dog cart to get some lunch. Mason had been snacking all day so we just gave him our chips while we ate the corn dogs. A few minutes later and...


The sign of a GOOD day -- falling asleep mid-chip eating. He is truly the funniest kid to watch while falling asleep because he is SO into eating that he tries to keep his eyes open SO HARD but eventually the sleepy-ness overtakes him and he just can't hang.

After we finished eating, I had wanted to stop by the World of Disney store to get a couple things and by the time we got to the store, Mason had woken up. He wanted out of the stroller and was ALL ABOUT shopping. He really is my son :) So we picked out a couple birthday presents and called it a day. We paid and headed back to the car.

Overall, it was HOT but so, so fun. It was really fun experiencing Disneyland through Mason's eyes. He would get so excited about everything and was just so happy to be there. It definitely solidified my decision to go to Disneyland instead of having a birthday party.

It truly was... the BEST DAY EVER. Happy 4th birthday baby boy!




[Thoughts on Tuesday] Confessions

Tuesday, July 26, 2016


I must confess...

... that I had planned on sharing our weekend at Disneyland today but... life.

... that it's annoying but I do my best thinking in the car or the shower - you know, the two places where you can't write things down! I try my hardest to remember and write it down when I get out or get to a stop light (shh), but sometimes it just doesn't happen and I'm disappointed that my genius (ha!) thought is gone.

... that a couple of my friends changed their blogs to private recently which means that their new posts don't show up in my bloglovin feed. Bloglovin is literally the ONLY way I read blogs because I am terrible at checking websites on their own, so I've been trying to keep the tab open so I remember to check and see if there's a new post but sometimes my computer closes the tab or I just completely forget and I feel TERRIBLE. #worstfriendever

... that I hate when people don't text back. I know you got it.

... that I am insanely scared of the garbage disposal. If something falls in there, it's gone. Forever. Or unless Seth is home to fish it out for me. I know you can unplug it, but still, nope. Never putting my hand down there.

... that I'm also scared of those car hauler trucks - like terrified to drive behind them. I know it sounds crazy but the very back cars are HANGING OFF THE BACK and I'm terrified they will fall off and hit me... even though logically I know they are attached with chains to the truck. Nope. I'd rather change lanes.

... that I was reading a blog the other day and all of a sudden a BlogHer pop up came and got in the way. I tried to hit the x to make it go away so I could see the post better but IT WOULDN'T CLOSE. Seriously, BlogHer? The fact that you are making my blog reading THAT much harder does NOT make me want to click the link. (insert eye roll emoji)

... Pokemon Go. NO. Just no. I mean people have walked into a lake, gotten in a car accident (from playing WHILE driving!), found a dead body, gotten stabbed, walked off a cliff while playing.... and that's just some of the incidents that I've heard about never mind the fact that you are telling everyone your location. Nope. You won't find me playing that game. Ever.

Can you relate to any of my confessions?





[Christmas in July] The goodies!

Monday, July 25, 2016

Merry Christmas in July! Can you believe that just FIVE months from today is Christmas? Blows my mind! The real Christmas Day will be here before we know it but, for now, we celebrate a little early with some gifts in July!

I especially love this exchange because it falls during Mason's birthday month and makes it extra special for him. I literally felt like presents were arriving daily (due to this exchange, the blogger birthday exchange, and his actual birthday!) and he was SO excited to open them! Seriously though, the kid was so spoiled in July, he's going to be a little disappointed come August!

As for buying gifts, Mason and I were lucky enough to be paired up with Stephanie and Connor. They were not new to us - I happen to love Stephanie and I was so excited that Mason and I would get to spoil Connor. I cheated a little and used Amazon to help us ship our presents to Connor so since I didn't pay for shipping, I added the amount that I would have spent on shipping in to what I spent on his gift, and Connor got an extra special present! From what I hear, he loved it, but you'll have to pop on over to Stephanie's blog to find out what we got him!

And as for us, we were paired with Meghan and Noah from The Adventure Starts Here. Meghan and Noah sent gifts to Mason. Mason was so excited when the package arrived and wanted to open it immediately. While I did give Meghan a couple suggestions on what Mason would like, I don't think she even needed them because she and Noah NAILED Mason's gift!




How cute are they? 
I LOVE the Cars wrapping paper and Meghan even had a Christmas card that she included!

When Mason opened the first present, I was so excited! I knew that Meghan and Noah had been playing some of the other Educational Insights games (the maker of Sneaky Snacky Squirrel) so I was super excited to see Frankie's Food Truck Fiasco. I had been wanting to get another one of these games for Mason but was waiting to see what he got for his birthday. It's good I waited! Since this present arrived right in the thick of birthday celebrating, we haven't actually played it yet, but I know it's next on the list to open!





And then there was the next gift. Mason has been ALL ABOUT the Hot Wheels lately (it's so cute when he says "ha whee-s!") and this next gift was PERFECT. A boy can never have too many cars right? Right. And these were great because these were super hero themed!

Mason immediately handed me the package and said "help me!" and so I opened them for him and he set them all out on the floor and studied his new cars. He was in heaven!




Meghan and Noah, THANK YOU SO MUCH! Mason, of course, LOVED his gifts! Seriously you hit the nail on the head with the game, the Hot Wheels, and of course, the goldfish!


Did you participate in the Christmas in July exchange with us? If so, link up below and show us the goodies that you got! I can't wait to get some ideas to add to Mason's Christmas list.

Merry Christmas!





Fri-YAY!

Friday, July 22, 2016

Happy Friday! I've been waiting for this day all week... like I normally do, but for a different reason this week... I want it to be Sunday! Normally I dread Sunday because it means that it's almost the start of another work week, but this Sunday we have something exciting planned. If you follow me on Instagram, you might already know what I'm talking about. If not, you'll just have to wait until next week to find out!

Anyway, this week went by entirely too fast. Normally this is a good thing, but I felt so behind all week due to being thrown off my regular schedule and I literally just replied to emails from Sunday, yesterday.

Enough small talk... let's get to it!

ONE.
Wine in a Can.




I saw Natasha from Schue Love share this Underwood wine a couple weeks ago and I was intrigued. I mean, I have a new love with rose, so I figured, why not. So one day when I was at Trader Joe's, I decided to pick up a can. It was a little more pricey than what I've been buying, but again, I thought, why not? It was $4.99 for a can (one can = 1/2 bottle) which is roughly $10 a bottle. Not very much, but hey, I'm cheap lol. The rose I love at TJ's is only $4.99 a BOTTLE so this was double the amount! I broke into it last night because someone decided to dump out all the Lego's we own. Twice. That called for wine. Also, after his birthday last weekend, we now have WAY more toys than I know what to do with so I plan to (1) go to IKEA this weekend to find a better storage system and (2) go through the toys we have and get rid of some. The shopping sounds way more fun than the cleaning.


TWO. 
Rainbow Chip Frosting.



Has anyone ever had this frosting? Rainbow chip frosting is my ABSOLUTE favorite frosting. Ever. I used to only buy this kind and then they discontinued it and turned it into funfetti. Say what? Vanilla frosting with sprinkles on top is not nearly as good those amazing rainbow chips. Thankfully it's back and I was able to make Mason some funfetti cupcakes with rainbow chip frosting for his birthday!


THREE.
Hanna Jams.


I got a new Hanna Andersson catalogue in the mail last week and to my surprise, it had a $20 off coupon! I swear I've NEVER seen that from HA before so of course, I had to take advantage! It was only good for in store purchases which is perfect because I was going shopping with my sister in law and friend at the Nordstrom sale on Thursday and there is a HA at that mall. Perfect timing! I had wanted to get Mason some more shorts pajamas since he's still rocking some from last year and they are entirely too short, but I couldn't find any in his size, so I got some for the Fall/Winter instead... if it ever gets cold. But I mean, I couldn't let the $20 coupon go to waste AND look at how cute these Star Wars pajamas are!


FOUR.
Nordstrom Sale.


Speaking of the Nordstrom sale, I am SO over all the Nordstrom posts lately and here I am doing my own. BUT in my defense, I am really just sharing one thing I got because I LOVE it. This cowl neck dress. I'm a sucker for cowl necks and to be able to wear a real bra with this dress is pure perfection. And not to mention, IT HAS POCKETS. I got it in black but am thinking about getting another one in the black/taupe stripe. Nordstrom, here's my money.


FIVE.
Cute Pool Floats.


Ever since I saw those cute pool floats at Target, I wanted one. Unfortunately our community pool is colder than cold and we never go so I thought it was unnecessary for me to get a pool float. So I passed. And then my niece got these CUTE ones : a watermelon and a donut. And I immediately had FOMO. They no longer have them at Target anymore, but I'm eyeing them on Amazon just hoping they go on sale! I want to snag myself one so bad!


SIX.
Back to School Supply Shopping.



I went to Target yesterday with every intention of sticking to my list. Well, that didn't happen. And then I walked past this section : the back to school section. I have to admit, I LOVE the back to school section! It was always my favorite part of going back to school as a kid because I LOVED getting new binders and notebooks and pens and pencils. And I have to admit, not much has changed since then. I still love planners and notebooks and pens!

Happy Weekend, friends!








[4th Birthday] Birthday Weekending.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

July is birthday month for our family. This week alone is three birthdays, but the whole month has at least six birthdays that we all celebrate. It's a bit crazy and hectic, but super fun!

This past weekend, I made it a point to start celebrating Mason's birthday. With his actual birthday being yesterday, on a Monday, a weekday, I knew I wouldn't be able to adequately celebrate it the way I wanted to, so we started early and made it a weekend affair!

Friday Night

On Friday night, we decided to cash in our Chick-fil-a "buy a meal in June and get whatever was on your receipt from that June day free in July" so we headed there for dinner. After dinner, we went to the grocery store to get some cupcakes for Mason to bring to school on Monday to share with his friends. I asked him what he wanted to bring to school to celebrate and he said "cuh-cakes!" so cupcakes is what we got! After the grocery store, we came home for a bit and then I met my sister in law at Party City to do some party shopping. We had originally just planned on getting some balloons for the party on Sunday as well as some festive plates and such, and then we walked up to the counter to pay for the balloons and I saw Chase from Paw Patrol. It was expensive, but I knew Mason would love it. So, I got it! I shoved Chase in the back of my car and I was off to decorate the hallway outside of Mason's room to surprise him in the morning.




Saturday

Saturday morning, Mason woke up to a huge (literally) surprise - a huge Chase balloon (54" tall!) and a bunch of small balloons all over the floor! To say he was surprised and excited would be an understatement!

Mason was supposed to have his Saturday ABA school from 9am-2pm so I wanted to sneak in a little birthday breakfast before we had to drop him off. Last year, Mason wasn't a big donut person so we made a huge stack of pancakes for him. He loved it so much that I wanted to continue the tradition this year. So a big stack of blueberry pancakes it was!

Plans changed and his ABA therapist was sick, so we cancelled his therapy. We unexpectedly had some extra time, so I snapped a few pictures of Mason and his balloon and we ran to Whole Foods to get some stuff. Seth had had afternoon plans to take his Grandma to lunch while I went to LA to go to the American Girl store to celebrate my niece's birthday, so he brought Mason with him as a surprise for Bubbie. Of course she was over the moon to see her Great Grandson!

It was my first time at the American Girl store and let me tell you... WHOA was it overwhelming! I also must admit, I am pretty glad I have a boy! Ha! I think I spent the least out of everyone there!

My sister in law had set up a lunch for us at the American Girl Cafe and to be honest, I didn't have high expectations. I mean, I knew it would be good, but I didn't expect it to be THIS GOOD. Seriously, the food was AMAZING. We were greeted with some cinnamon buns, then served a platter of veggies and hummus, cheese, and pretzel bread and honey mustard. Then we got to choose our meal (I had the salmon - it was DELICIOUS) and then we finished off our meal with some birthday cake and ice cream in a little flower pot. We left stuffed but happy!

We did a little shopping, sat in 2 hours worth of traffic on the way home, and then my other niece and I baked lots of goodies for the birthday party on Sunday.


















Sunday

Sunday was party day! We all woke up early-ish, had some breakfast, got ready, and then looked at a couple houses (that we didn't like - boo!). We had a quick lunch and then headed over to my sister in law's house for party time! We swam for a couple hours and then had some dinner and cake with our family and friends. We got home super late on Sunday night, but since Monday was Mason's actual birthday, I still wanted to make it special, so I decorated his door with some streamers. Nothing fancy, but a little festive.










Monday

Monday was business as usual. I went to work and Mason went to school. I picked him up slightly early to run to Costco to get some batteries for his new toys (that he BEGGED me to build in the morning before we left). We came home and built as much as we could (why do boys toys always come unassembled!) before Seth got home. Once he got home, we got ready, and headed out to dinner, just the three of us, for Mason's birthday. We had a great dinner at Lazy Dog Cafe followed up by the BEST white chocolate chip brownie.




It was seriously the BEST weekend celebrating all the birthdays!

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY MASON!





DESIGNED BY ECLAIR DESIGNS