Weekend Desert Layover

We found some killer deals on Allegiant Air to Hawaii. But there were only flights on certain days of the week, so in order to make it work, we had to spend the weekend in Arizona while enroute. It was a really rough couple of days, let me tell you.

Not only do a set of grandparents live there that welcomed us with open arms, but it was a perfect 78 degrees and sunny all weekend long.

We were so happy just to be outside again and have the luxury of going to a park without mittens, hats and boots.

Nash insisted on wearing his sunglasses upside down.

We made our way to a nearby resort pool since my parents don't heat their pool in the "winter."

Yes, I went down the water slide seven months pregnant. They wouldn't let Blake ride with me, so I tried to convince him that it was safe and fun.

He was so close to attempting the adventure alone, but in the end, his fears trumped his desire to slide.

He didn't seem to mind giving up too much because he could live in the pool all day.

We ended the weekend with one more evening park run before journeying on to the next leg of our trip.

Winter in Instas

This winter, we made messes in the kitchen, frequented the children's museum, celebrated hat day at school, and rode on a ferris wheel and buffed Nash up on his birthday.

Troy gave me a bouquet of new utensils for Valentine's Day and I enjoyed my two little loves. But we decided we had enough of being cooped up and cold, so we headed to the desert for sunnier skies. 

Valentine-ing

When I was growing up, my mom always made homemade Valentines with us.

I've wanted to continue the tradition because a) I like how meaningful it is b) it creates lasting memories (I still remember the year confetti was placed in each individual card, and the first time my mom let me use her embossing gun) and c) I obviously enjoy projects like this. Maybe since I have all boys they won't want to make Valentines with me forever, but I'm soaking up their enthusiasm while they're still young and willing to help.

We settled on monster pencils this year. I can't take credit for the idea (thanks Pinterest for guiding me here), but we had to add our own tags and washi tape of course.

Blake diligently signed each one.

We also carried out our tradition of making jello hearts. The jello boxes sat in our pantry for over a week taunting the boys. So, they were pretty elated when Valentine's Day finally arrived for the sole purpose of cutting out those hearts.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Nash is Three

My baby turned three today.

I've loved having him as my baby for the last three years. I'm a little sad that he won't be my baby very much longer and slightly nervous for him to become the middle child.

But I also think he's ready to hand over the reins and take on the role of big brother, especially with his advancement in age.

The celebrations started earlier this week at our local indoor carnival. We invited some friends to join us to both use up our extra Groupon passes and celebrate Nash's birthday. Win/win.

Nash has developed a slight crush on this one. When we went away with our friends a few weekends ago, he could not go to bed at night without first saying goodnight to Bella.

Nash's reaction to everyone singing to him was really funny. He hid his eyes under his hands and finally peeked out at the end.

Nash's actual birthday was kicked off with breakfast with dad, his favorite Saturday morning tradition. They came home and he couldn't wait one more minute to open presents, thanks to some convincing by his big brother.

Blake was right on the forefront of the present unwrapping. He had a hard time understanding that it wasn't his birthday.

Since Nash's birthday fell on a Saturday, we finally checked out our new gigantic sporting goods store that has an indoor ferris wheel.

Nash kept an iron-clad grip on his ferris wheel token while we waited in line. He loved every second of the ride and cried when it was time to get off. It was more like a full-blown tantrum. Ah, welcome to the age of three. In my experience, much harder than two.

He took a nice long needed nap and we topped off the night with dinner and ice cream cake.

3 reasons why I love our Nashy Nashy:

1. He is so full of spunk and determination and hardly anything ruffles him.

2. He says and does cute things constantly. Everything from his facial expressions to the phrases he comes up with to the way he mimics his big brother. I don't know how many times a day Troy and I turn to each other and mutter how cute he is.

3. He is genuinely sweet. He comes up to me all day long, wanting to snuggle and give hugs and kisses. He bats his eyes and says, "I love you, mom," out of blue every single day and it makes my heart turn to mush. 

Happy birthday, little man. We love you.

Italian Soda Bar

I hosted book club last weekend, and to go along with dinner, I set up an Italian soda bar.

We read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which has nothing to do with Italy, but you never really need an excuse to have Italian sodas, right?

Since Valentine's Day is around the corner, I stuck with pink and red accents.

Since there were only eight of us I limited the flavors to strawberry and peach.

I wasn't 100% sure the Italian sodas would actually taste good even though they looked good, but they were surprisingly delicious.

And of course, there is always occasion for monster cookies as well.

UPDATE: I received so many requests for the Italian Soda Bar instructions that I offered it as a free printable here. Enjoy!