What’s Up Wednesday | June 2019

What We’re Eating This Week | After two weeks of eating out for almost every single meal, it feels good to be back to meal planning and cooking at home. I spent a ridiculous amount at the grocery store on Sunday and our pantry is finally fully stocked. On this week’s menu is spaghetti with meal sauce, pork chops with roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli, taco salad, and breakfast for dinner. We’ll fill in the other nights with leftovers and takeout.

What I’m Reminiscing About | Is it weird to be reminiscing about something that happened less than a week ago? I’ve been working on editing the photographs from our beach trip and I’m already so nostalgic about the whole thing. I didn’t get as many pictures as usual, but that’s to be expected with a baby in my arms. Instead, I have a camera roll full of selfies with Polly and all of the fun things she experienced on our trip. I can’t wait to share them with you next week!

What I’m Loving | I ordered this tote bag before our trip and it was such a stand out. It has a zipper that keeps little hands and sand out of my bag, it was perfectly sized for all of our beach gear, and I love that the color scheme isn’t overly feminine.

What We’ve Been Up To | We’re still in survival mode. We spent all of Sunday getting our lives back in order — grocery shopping, catching up on laundry and mail, and getting things ready for work and Gran Camp on Monday. The girls have watched way too many Harry Potter movies this week and I’ve been trying to finish up a book I started before we left the beach.

What I’m Dreading | The thing I’ve been dreading the most is just being inside at work all day. After fourteen days of spending most of our time outside, it’s pretty stifling to sit in an office for eight hours a day. Polly and I spent plenty of Tuesday out at the pool (hooray for decent WiFi) and it was a nice mid-week break.

What I’m Working On | I’m working on finalizing plans for our home equity loan and the list of items we’ll be tackling first, around the house. It’s clear we won’t really be starting until August, so dreams of a finished house by Christmas aren’t looking so good, but I’m still thrilled to see which projects we can wrap up before the holidays.

What I’m Excited About | As much as I’m not ready for Polly to be a year old, her birthday isn’t that far away. I’ve been working on some party ideas and I’m hoping to have the details finalized in July. I with that time would slow down, but I’m also loving watching her grow and can’t wait to see what ONE brings us.

What I’m Watching + Reading | Now that Polly is sleeping upstairs (she’s at least starting every night in her shared room with Sophie), we have our bedroom back for a few hours at night. We’re currently watching The Sopranos (for the first time), Season Two of Dark, and Season Three of A Handmaid’s Tale. I’m currently reading The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton and I’ve just ordered several new devotionals for the girls, which I’m hoping to start this weekend: Adored and Seamless for Ella and I Am and 100 Devotions for Kids About Science for Sophie.

What I’m Listening To | I shared a few of my favorite albums in a post earlier this month (here and here), so let’s talk audiobooks. I started listening to Home Fire over the weekend, but I couldn’t get into it. I read a fantastic review (I can’t remember where?!) a few weeks ago, but maybe it’s the audio that is giving me pause. I decided to take a break and I’m now halfway through The Wedding Date instead. It’s your typical contemporary romance, and despite not loving a previous novel by Guillory, I am really enjoying this one!

What I’m Wearing | I ordered this tee shirt and these denim shorts before our trip and I got so many compliments on both. I’m not kidding when I tell you I tried hundreds of dollars worth of shorts, to find nothing of merit, until I broke down and tried these from Target. They are the perfect length, they aren’t distressed or un-hemmed, and the stretch is just right for those of us with mom bods.

What I’m Doing This Weekend | Ideally, we’ll work in the yard a bit this weekend, to prepare for a little garden overhaul later in July. We got started right before our trip, but now it’s been sitting for a few weeks. I’m also planning to clean the camper before I repack the linens and put it away for the season, so I might do a little video walk through while everything is fresh and clean. We’re planning to tear out the carpet in the slide-out this fall, so I might get a head start on the demo process and start shopping for reasonably priced tile.

What I’m Looking Forward To Next Month | We have so much going on next month — cheer camp, cheer photos, church camp for Sophie, a weekend getaway for some of the grand kids with my parents — it’s kind of a lot. In the middle of all of that, we’ll be heading to Pensacola for a weekend to watch the Blue Angels airshow. The kids look forward to this all year long and I can’t be sad about a few more days in the sand!

Kristin is married to her high-school sweetheart and the mother to two daughters. Professional by day and creative by night, she is a family lifestyle blogger who writes about faith, family, and fitting it all into a busy schedule. At Taz + Belly, you’ll find healthy recipes, children’s party ideas, tutorials, DIY projects, and more. Click Here to Read More About Kristin