Holden's Toy Story Birthday Party!

We celebrated Holden's 3rd birthday a few weeks ago with a Toy Story themed party! He's my second child to be obsessed with Toy Story, so this one was particularly fun to do! In fact, I think it was also Aurora's 3rd birthday that we did a Toy Story theme for. I think I might just be a little heartbroken if Silas isn't into it as much as them, or once they're all grown out of it. 

We just did a small get-together with family and it was so fun to come up with the different themed treats! Check out that Potato Head fruit bowl! We almost had a minor disaster with the banner above the table. I'd ordered it about a month out from Etsy but, because of everything with COVID-19, it arrived about two days after his party. When I could tell it wasn't going to be here on time, I was scrambling to try and find something similar that was also at a great price, like the original one. I was starting to think I was out of luck, but a print rep my dad works with came through for the win just in the nick of time. Dan, you the real MVP! (Dan will probably never see this, but he rocks!)

If you're local, you probably already know Adam's Cake Shoppe is 🔥🔥🔥 and pretty much the only place we will go for cakes.

Three is one of my favorite ages. Oh my gosh, I can't believe I just said that out loud. Totally biting my tongue right now. But seriously, tantrums and meltdowns aside (haha, ask me again tomorrow when I'm alone with the kids), I love how much Holden is learning and saying these days. His SLP tested him last week and when she finished, she said, "You told me when you brought Holden to me that you wanted him to have 100% normal speech by Kindergarten and, Jenna, he's almost there. He's so close." You guys, hearing those words brought legit tears to my eyes. Mostly because I didn't know if that would ever be the case. 

Holden, you drive me absolutely insane. Like, to a breaking point I didn't even know I had. But, sweet boy, you. have. my. heart. I have learned so much from you. Your charm and sweet smile can melt my heart instantly. 

Some of my favorite things you say right now are:

"I luh lou," "I luh all you guys!" and "I luh lou so much!" 

"I never do that ever again" and "I so sowwy" when you get in trouble

"Teachers get mad" (Long story short, a few times when he was acting up, I told him if he does that in school, he'll make the teachers mad, lol. Now he says it whenever I bring up starting school. 🤦🏼‍♀️)

"I keem?" (ice cream) and "Go see neighbors?" (There's one family you refer to as "the neighbors" lol)

Other things I never want to forget:

You love to list all your family members and friends

You can count to ten and are doing so good working on your ABC's

You're pretty much potty-trained, just a few accidents here and there

You're surprisingly shy out in public

You love sweet treats and fruit like your mama

You love key lime Greek yogurt, which you call "Papa's yogurt," since he loves key lime pie

That you need 5 kisses and 5 hugs before we can leave your room at night

Our morning walks, talking about our days

Your love for bugs 

And so much more!

While I wish I could keep you this age forever, I'm so excited to see what your future holds! And maybe a little excited for you to not be a threenager! ;)

Quarantine Got Me Like...

Okay, so I use the term "quarantine" loosely, because I realize places are starting to open up and things are slowly seeming to get back to normal-ish. But for those of us working from home--with kids (when we typically don't)--quarantine is still very much alive.

Not to get off on a tangent, but to get off on a tangent (It's what I do. Welcome to my blog.)... some of y'all know my history with work/life balance. But to recap: when I just had Aurora, all I wanted in this world was to be able to to stay home with her. Even part-time would've been amazing. But I just did not see how our financials could support that. Working was such a struggle when I just had her because my heart was just not in it, no matter how great the job. Fast-forward to when Holden was born. Because of all his medical issues, cutting back my hours was not really a want anymore, but something that had to happen. I left a really good position to go part-time. Well, that part-time position turned out to be pretty good too. And the part-time work/life balance was perfect and exactly what we needed at the time. Enter Silas, hahaha. Turns out God wanted to show me what I was really made of. And it was not being a SAHM! 😂 Seriously, I BOW DOWN to you mamas of three or more who have the patience to be at home with your babies all day, every day. I love my babies SO. FREAKING. MUCH. but I am a much better mom to them when I'm working full time. So, last fall, I went back to work full time. Most of you know, I legit LOVE my job. I have a completely different mindset and am finally fully present when I'm at work and fully present when I'm at home. Finally got that work/life balance I've been searching for. Now you're caught up.

Enter Quarantine 2020, lol. I have my little "office" set up in a corner in our bedroom and my mom is AMAZING and still comes over to hang with the kids. Great, right? Well, turns out being in the same corner of the same room all day and then sleeping in that same room all night, it's actually SUPER hard to focus. Add in the loud noises coming from the floor below, the occasional mouthing off to Grandma that you feel the need to constantly intervene with and the 20 million "I jus need ONE more kiss" requests from a certain little 3 year old and well, quarantine can have ya like...

I may or may not have actually reached that part of quarantine at one point.

But then, of course, you have all the good that quarantine has brought us which, in my opinion, definitely outweighs the bad.

Extra family time. Being off work right when you're off work, instead of the 20-30 min drive home. The funny Zoom memes because, God knows they're true. The togetherness we were all starting to feel (ya know, back before it got all political again). The fun carryout specials (pizza making kits)! Seeing your loved ones for a split second, from 6 ft away. Finally hugging your loved ones after not seeing them for so long. Having full access to your kitchen at all hours of the day (okay, so maybe this one is a double-edged sword?). All the walks we've taken and Holden's and my new tradition of early morning walks, talking about our days. ICE CREAM (If you know, you know. DQ Blizzard BOGO was my jam and how we really survived those first couple months!) Finally having more time to work on my blog! All the new recipes we tried. And the pounds we gained from them--more to love! And just, s l o w i n g down. Coming off of being stuck inside from winter, and then having to stay inside even longer, I think most of us were just itching to get out into the world again. But before that, we had to get creative. We found things to do. Some people learned some new skills/Tik Tok moves (not me! Lol). But for me, it made me realize that it's okay to not always have a jam-packed schedule. It's okay to spend your afternoon in a lawn chair, while your kids play in their water table or 4-ft pool all day. 

Another thing Quarantine has helped me with personally is my anxiety. I've started so many posts on this topic. They usually end up being super long and then I don't like the way they sound or feel like they don't get the point across, so they just sit there unpublished. But I've had anxiety for years that has gotten worse and worse as I've gotten older. I've gotten to where I don't enjoy talking to or being around people anymore because I just feel awkward and uncomfortable and I feel like it shows, so then that makes me even more uncomfortable and, well, it's gotten pretty bad in recent years. Being like that for so long, you start to classify yourself as "Not a people person" or start thinking that you're just some weirdo that people don't like. And then the thoughts spiral from there. If you're an over-thinker (🙋), it can be pretty self-destructive. Quarantine has made me realize how much I do really enjoy being around people. Even if I don't always have a lot to say and the conversation still flows a little wonky lol, I genuinely enjoy the presence of others. I'm learning to push through awkward silences (those are when I usually get weird and start to ramble!) and accept them for what they are and not take it as I'm just weird and hard to talk to. (Hello! Awkward silences happen between more than one person. We're both being equally awkward.) This might not make any sense to some of you, but if this is something you struggle with, you know exactly what I'm talking about. The funny thing is, 90% of the time you feel like you're being weird, everyone else is too worried about how they're doing and not noticing you at all. Soooo many times, Jose and I will be walking away from a group of neighbors or friends or whatever and I'll ask him, "was I weird?" and he'll be like, "not at all." (He's totally honest with me if he can tell I'm uncomfortable because he knows it's something I'm trying to work on.)

Anyway, this post has started to sound like all the super long posts I've written, so I'll leave it at that, but I'm definitely willing to go more in depth if others struggle with this too. The point I was trying to make is that not being able to talk to people for so long has made me appreciate them more and has made me want to push myself harder to get to know them. So, if Quarantine has helped me start to get over one of the more debilitating things I've dealt with in my life, I'm cool with that. #growthyall

Father's Day Gift Ideas

Smart Watch | Survival Kit | Flameless Lighter | Magnetic Wristbands | Grill Tools | Carharrt Hoodie

 

No links for the cake or gift card, but Dairy Queen makes great ice cream cakes for Father's Day and watching movies at the theater is Jose's favorite thing of all time, so a Cinemark gift card is almost always included.

I feel like you can tell a lot about a man by his wish list, lol. This board is 100% my husband. (Maybe because he handpicked a few of the things himself. 😜) 

If you're more the "Go big or go home" type, you could always opt for a zero turn mower or a new grill. We actually just got a preloved version of this grill from some neighbor friends and love it so far!

Other great gift ideas:

Camping equipment

(Jose just got this tent and sleeping bag for an upcoming camping trip!)

Tools or home improvement store gift cards

Hunting/fishing gear

Tech-y gadgets

Jerky

YETI mug

(or this awesome Walmart version for 1/4 the price!)