Month: June 2023

Birthday date with Hadley #6.

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It can be hard to plan one on one time with your kiddos, so we are going to try something to ensure our daughter gets quality alone time once a month with either Mom or Dad. On Hadley’s birthday date of each month, (her birthday is the 21st, so on or around the 21st of each month), she gets to have a “date” with just Mom or Dad. Having it on the same date each month, or around that date, makes it easy to plan. Plus, it lets Hadley have something to look forward to each month that is special to her.

We were a little behind on June’s birthday month! The month has been flying by. So for the month of June, Hadley decided to have a pool date with just her and I.

We arrived at the pool a little after it had opened, and barely anyone was there! The weather had been calling for severe storms later in the day, so we thought it would be a great day to go before the storms rolled in. And Kevin was home, so he stayed back at the house with Huxley. The water was absolutely freezing, and I couldn’t get in right away. Hadley on the other hand always jumps in, even if the water is cold.

This girl could live in water, every day, all day. Even though I didn’t get in right away, she was still so happy to be there with just me. The sun came out, and after a while I was feeling super-hot and my skin was getting red. More of a heat red, than burnt, so I slowly got in. Hadley and I tossed a ball for a while, while we dodged the kids kicking and splashing. When the water is freezing cold, any sort of splash sends shivers down my spine! But not Hadley, she just loves it. Hadley kept saying, “Mom, watch this” over and over. It was so cute. She would do different things off the diving board, jump in the deep end when they close the diving board, and we even practiced some of her strokes.

Kevin and I joined a rec volleyball league at the pool, it’s super chill but our team is a bit serious at times. I am not serious though! It’s volleyball for fun right? So anyways, Kevin and Huxley came up to the pool after his nap because we had an afternoon volleyball game. Awesome big sis watched Huxley for an hour while we played three games of volleyball. Towards the end of the game, Huxley was getting a little antsy and Hadley was a little frustrated trying to keep him happy. But it all worked out, and an hour went by super quick. To reward Hadley for doing such a great job watching Huxley, she got to pick out an ice cream at the pool snack bar before dinner. She’s the best big sister. We had a great day together!

She loves the idea of having special one on one time with her parents each month. We are going to take turns each month so we both get a chance to have our time with her throughout the year. I’m not saying we don’t get one on one time with her; I get a lot of time with her with my husband’s work schedule, but there is something special about planning something each month with her. It can be as simple as playing board games in the basement, coloring for an hour, going to a playground and eating dinner, just simple things. The point is, to be with just her and give her our undivided attention.

Previous birthday dates:
Birthday Date #1
Birthday Date #2
Birthday Date #3
Birthday Date #4
Birthday Date #5

Happy Summer folks!

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Weekly recap.

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Recapping our week on the blog! Shopping for the kids, lots more walks, first trip to the lake, swim team, and lots of pool time!

Monday June 19
Early morning walk with Huxley around the neighborhood, swim team practice for Hadley, and then just chilled the rest of the day.

Tuesday June 20
Walk in the morning around the neighborhood, swim team practice for Hadley. After Huxley’s nap, we headed back out and went to Kohls, Hadley and Huxley got a few new outfits for summer. After Kohl’s, we went to Cancun for dinner, and I was so proud of myself I did not have one ounce of white cheese! I’m trying to be good lately.

Wednesday June 21
We went to the lake for the first time this summer! It’s been a weird summer so far, not going to the lake at all until almost July but that’s how things worked out. We met one of Kevin’s high school buddies and his family for the day at the lake. Hadley went tubing, fishing, and just hanging out on the dock all day. Huxley took an amazing nap too! When we got home, Hadley had a sweet summer surprise from her aunt / Godmother Amy on the front porch, new charms for her crocs!

Thursday June 22
Walked during swim practice, and sometimes Huxley is about ready to get out after a mile but I try so hard to get two miles in and then get him out. We walked around the picnic table area towards the end of practice. We came home, ate some lunch, put Huxley down for his nap, Hadley chilled on the couch, and I took a webinar. It’s for families of firefighters, and for firefighters as well. It was a good webinar, went over the job they go through, and its effect on themselves and their families, and how to cope with things, etc. There were over 50 people on the call, from all over the U.S.! It was Kevins turn to go to Hadleys swim meet, I was able to see her swim the first event before Kevin got there and Huxley and I had to leave. She has so much fun swimming with her friends!

Friday June 23
Instead of swim team practice, they had a pancake breakfast! Hadley played games, and Huxley was in heaven with all the people under the shelter. After breakfast, they swam for fun for a little bit. It was another weird cold morning in June, we had sweatshirts on! Later in the afternoon, we delivered our softball goodie bags to all the players on the team this year. We were a little late this year, but you know, life is busy these days.

Saturday June 24
Huxley and I walked at the trail, which is my favorite place to walk. The whole thing is two miles, but he gets antsy after a mile, but I strap him in and keep going. Kevin had a special event to work for the fire department, it was a bike race. We went to the pool later in the afternoon, and it was still packed! Both kids love the pool, it’s just a lot of work bringing all the things for a toddler!

Sunday June 25
Hadley chose to go to the pool with just her and I for a few hours for her birthday date for June. We pretty much had the pool to ourselves for a while. The weather was calling for severe storms in the afternoon, so we headed up early. Kevin met us at the pool later for our volleyball game, Hadley was the best and watched Huxley for the entire hour. Lots of snacks. She was great with him! After volleyball, we swam for a little bit, it felt amazing I was so hot. And then the clouds started coming in, and everyone was leaving. We came home, ate dinner, and hit the sheets!

Happy Monday everyone, have a great week! And as always, thanks for reading!

Linking up with Holly and Sarah.

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Birthday date with Hadley #5.

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It can be hard to plan one on one time with your kiddos, so we are going to try something to ensure our daughter gets quality alone time once a month with either Mom or Dad. On Hadley’s birthday date of each month, (her birthday is the 21st, so on or around the 21st of each month), she gets to have a “date” with just Mom or Dad. Having it on the same date each month, or around that date, makes it easy to plan. Plus, it lets Hadley have something to look forward to each month that is special to her.

Hadley and her dad went to a Reds game for her May birthday date! They both love the game and had great seats thanks to our brother-in-law.

On their way to the game! Hadley was so excited.

She got ice cream and sang “Take me out to the ball game” song. She had a blast.

She loves the idea of having special one on one time with her parents each month. We are going to take turns each month so we both get a chance to have our time with her throughout the year. I’m not saying we don’t get one on one time with her; I get a lot of time with her with my husband’s work schedule, but there is something special about planning something each month with her. It can be as simple as playing board games in the basement, coloring for an hour, going to a playground and eating dinner, just simple things. The point is, to be with just her and give her our undivided attention.

Previous birthday dates:
Birthday Date #1
Birthday Date #2
Birthday Date #3
Birthday Date #4

Happy Summer folks!

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The 2023 Summer Bucket List.

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Happy official first day of summer! What better day to reveal our summer bucket list! Summer is the season I look forward to the most, so many memories being created, being outside all day, and just being with my kids.

The bucket list is hand drawn on a poster board, and we hang it in the kitchen where everyone can see it all summer long. This bucket list is a mix of things to actually go and do, and a few simple things that we can do at home that don’t cost a dime.

I invite you to follow along with us, use some of our ideas, or create some new ones, however you see it working for you and your family or loved ones. I’d love to see what you come up with! I’ll be posting a lot on Instagram, if you don’t already follow, my handle is @lifewithmandyjoy.

Happy Summer folks!

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Weekly recap.

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Recapping our week on the blog! Lots of walks, swim practice, early Father’s Day, the library, went to two different parks, the zoo, and volleyball!

Monday June 12
With Kevin being home, I took a walk by myself around the neighborhood. Hadley’s swim practice was cancelled because it was too cold! So, her and Kevin practiced softball in the yard.

Tuesday June 13
I cannot get over how chilly it has been the last few days! I mean it’s almost July for crying out loud, we should be sweating on these morning walks not wearing a light jacket! During swim team practice, I dropped off a few bags of donated clothes and random things. I’ve been on a decluttering kick and it feels great to get stuff out of the house. After swim practice, we cleaned out my car, and just hung outside. For dinner, we met up with my parents and brothers’ family to celebrate Father’s Day a few days early.

Wednesday June 14
Wednesday was a busy fun day! During swim team practice, Huxley and I ventured around the pool grounds and explored a little. It was like off roading in the stroller, which wasn’t the best, but it was good for one day. After practice, we stopped by the library to drop off books from before school was out and checked out two more books for Hadley. After lunch and afternoon naps, we went to a local park. It was a little more crowded than I figured it would be, but did the kids have fun! Hadley loves to do the zipline, and Huxley was in heaven walking around. On the way home, Hadley convinced me for her to get McDonald’s for an early dinner and we bought a “Grimace Birthday Meal”. Take my advice, don’t get the meal. It was $13.00, and all it was was a purple milkshake with food and fries! Total rip-off and the shake wasn’t even that good, Hadley barely drank it.

Thursday June 15
Since Huxley turned one back in February, I’ve been meaning to measure him on this ruler we have in his room. We do the same thing for Hadley and measure her every year on her birthday. Huxley is almost three feet tall! Another walk at swim practice, and then Huxley was getting antsy in the stroller, so we walked around a little bit. Later that evening, Hadley had a swim meet that her dad took her too. We are going to take turns staying home with Huxley, they are just too long and it’s not fun chasing him around a pool for hours and hours. One of the moms sent me some photos of her swimming!

Friday June 16
We saw a deer on our morning walk. Instead of swim practice, they had team photos that took almost two hours! The photographer had a bad memory card or something along those lines and he had to retake the individual photos. Very long morning. After lunch and naps, we headed to another park! It was Huxleys first time going down a slide by himself and it was the funniest thing to watch. He must’ve gone down the slide a dozen times.

Saturday June 17
Went to the zoo on a Saturday morning! It’s never really that crowded until closer to 11am/noon. We left when it started getting super crowded. Stopped by the fire house to see Kevin (and did not take one picture!) and then we just hung out at home. I watered the flowers, and Huxley played with a small cooler with water. After being in the sun, I brought out the wagon and umbrella to give him some shade. That umbrella works wonders! Hadley went down to the neighbor’s house and helped them sell lemonade, they donated all of the proceeds to cancer!

Sunday June 18
For Father’s Day we were supposed to go to the lake for the day, but the volleyball league we joined decided to have the first game on this day. Total bummer. But we made do. I took a walk with Huxley, and then cut the grass. The big kids came over, we haven’t seen them in over a month it felt like. They went on vacation with their mom, and weekends with friends, and things like that. We went to the volleyball game, which is held at our pool, it was a lot of fun. Met some new parents, and one that goes to Hadley’s school! After the game, we swam at the pool for a little bit and then headed home to grill out dinner. We ate outside on the back deck. It was nice to just hangout all together.

Happy Tuesday everyone, have a great week! And as always, thanks for reading!

Linking up with Holly and Sarah.

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Friday Favorites.

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Hi friends! Happy Friday! Here are the favorites this week.

MALIBU
We started using this last year during swim team, it’s when your hair turns green from all the chlorine in the pool. My daughter’s hair turns major green. My hair girl recommended these packets, and they work great. All it is, is a powder that you put in your hair and use it like a shampoo. Packets can be found here.

RUFFLE DRESS
One of the ladies I follow on Instagram posted this dress, and it’s just gorgeous! I would definitely need a larger size since it only comes in large as the biggest size. But it’s so pretty! Dress can be found here.

PORTABLE FOLDING SEAT
This seat would be awesome at the pool or lake! You could use it on the side of the pool, or the side of the dock so you could still get your legs and feet wet, but not get all the way in. I love it, but don’t want to spend that much for it haha Seat can be found here.

GOODR SUNGLASSES
I’ve been wanting to try these sunglasses, but I just can’t justify paying $25 for sunglasses that I will most likely break or loose. I always buy cheapie sunglasses, and I could care less. I’ve heard these don’t slide off your nose, and stay on your face. Sunglasses can be found here.

REUSABLE WATER BALLOONS
These water balloons are all over the place! I am patiently waiting for yet again, the cost to go down. They keep skyrocketing! Hadley has played with some at the pool and they are really cool. Water balloons can be found here.

Happy Friday everyone, have a great weekend! And as always, thanks for reading!

*This post may contain affiliate links, which means at no additional cost to you, I will earn a very small commission if you click through or make a purchase.

Linking up with Erika.

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Front yard flowers.

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It’s been three years since we did our front yard makeover, and the yard is still going strong! I look forward to planting flowers each year in our yard. This year, my daughter has loved to help plant the annual flowers with me. We have a mixture of both annuals and perennials. I love picking out the annuals every year, and the perennials are still thriving three years later.

The green leafy flowers on the bottom edge are called hydrangea tiny tuff stuff, and they need lots and lots of water! I read somewhere that the tiny tuff stuff like to be watered on the actual leaves, as well as the roots. They are doing great so far this summer, full, bright and green leaves.

The smaller flowers are my favorite vincas! They do so well in the sun, which is what the majority of this space in our yard gets is sun. This year I went with white, pink, and a dark maroon color.

The yellow bush like plants are called, spirea double play candy corn which are perennials. They come back great every year, and do not require much watering.

Moving up to the front porch area, the three hostas are thriving! They have grown back so full and vibrant this year. They look great!

To the left of the front porch is our large hydrangea limelight bush. No hydrangeas yet, but the leaves are bright and green!

On the front porch is a hanging basket of overflowing vincas, in the smaller pots are vincas and some random coleus, and in the larger white pots are a shade combo. I wasn’t a huge fan of the shade combos, but it was slim pickings this year, so we went with it.

On our back deck, we planted some salmon impatiens that are more of a reddish color. Since we have a red umbrella for our patio table, we figured it would look good back there. They have done great back on the deck, it’s shady most of the time but part of the day is all sun.

I feel old as hell talking about flowers and plants every year. I never would’ve thought I’d get so excited about a yard, but it is what it is. I’m so proud of our yard, from where it started and to where it is now. You can read more about what our yard looked like when we first moved in here. The previous owners were very low maintenance when it came to landscaping!

Thanks for reading about our yard!

I am now a minivan mom.

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I have been driving a minivan for two months now, and I can finally admit that I like it. It took a few weeks for sure, but I can honestly say that I’m a fan now. I have always been a SUV person, like always. A part of me is still an SUV person, like I really want my big SUV someday. But, even buying a used one that I want right now is insanely expensive. I have to live in a realistic world, and not some crazy unrealistic world that I can’t afford. Someday. Someday for sure. But for right now, the minivan life is here.

Introducing the Kia Carnival van! It really doesn’t look like a full-fledged minivan, it sort of looks like a crossover of a mini-SUV and van, etc. My previous car was a Kia Telluride, and I loved that thing. But, with growing children we needed more space, and this minivan definitely has the space.

My first choice of color was white, but it wasn’t available, so we went with a dark grey. I like it. I like the wheels too. Always love the rims on cars, whatever kind they are. We also got the front windows tinted the second day we got it. I just love the look of all the windows being the same tint color.

The interior is nice. At first, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the color of the interior. Kids and light-colored seats aren’t always the greatest option. Kids are dirty, they spill things, and just get stuff all over. But we got the coating coverage that protects the seats so hopefully that will be okay. The two-toned camel/black color is pretty nice looking. The screen on the front dashboard is huge and has so many options. Like so many options I haven’t even figured them all out yet, and it’s been two months!

The trunk space is huge, and I haven’t had to put the back seats down yet for more room! In the Telluride, I always had to have the back seats down to fit the stroller and groceries, or whatever I had in the trunk. The middle seat can come out and leave the middle row as two bucket seats, but for now, Hadley loves the middle row. She loves the van period! One more thing, the sliding doors are amazing. I know that is a thing with minivans now, but after driving one now and having kids in and out, the sliding doors are awesome. You don’t have to worry about them hitting other cars when they open the doors, or worry about hitting the walls in the garage, or whatever it may be. Plus, Hadley loves to hit the button to open and close her side of the door.

I really can’t believe I am driving a minivan now. After for what feels like forever, always saying I would never ever drive one. Driving a minivan has grown on me. But, I will always have that dream of having my big SUV one day…

To all the minivan fans out there, I’m here for it. Maybe not forever, but for right now, I’m here for it! So, cheers to the minivan peeps who never thought they would drive one but do now!