What's Up Wednesday {1/31/18}

1.  What we're eating this week:

This was the plan for the week, but we've already deviated due to someone eating my hamburger buns, and a daddy/son date night to Chick-fil-a.  I've found that I don't always stick with the meal plan each week, but I'm usually always prepared and not coming up with last minute ideas for dinner when I have a plan.  That's nice!

2.  What I'm reminiscing about:

This time of year always has me reminiscing about Abel's birth and the weeks leading up to it.  The months between Christmas 2015 and Abel's birthday were very emotional ones due to a very high risk pregnancy, so this time of year I spend a lot of time reflecting on that stage of life.  It was so scary and our emotions were all over the place, but God blessed us with a beautiful child, and he's almost 2!

This was taken as soon as Andy met Abel - several hours before I met him!

3.  What I'm loving:

I'm currently loving Amazon Prime Music.  I'm a big music fan, and you can find anything and everything on there!  I prefer music to silence, so I have it going a lot, especially at school when my students are working.  

4.  What we've been up to:

We haven't been up to much of anything lately.  I'm recovering from bronchitis and a lower respiratory infection (I went to the doctor Sunday), so we've been lying low.  With all the flu and strep going around, we're trying to stay in the house as much as possible to limit our chances of getting sick.

5.  What I'm dreading:

We're wanting to put our house up for sale in a couple of weeks, but I'm dreading all the little things we have to do to get it ready.  Most of it is just packing some of the clutter away, but I hate doing stuff like that.  I'm also dreading the next few weeks before our vacation.  The flu is spreading like wildfire, and I'm desperately praying nobody will catch it before our trip.

6.  What I'm working on:

I feel like I'm always working on lesson plans.  It's never-ending when you're a teacher!  We're also working on the house and lots of laundry!

7.  What I'm excited about:

D I S N E Y  W O R L D

  

Need I say more??  We're less than three weeks away, and I can't wait!

8.  What I'm watching/reading:

I've been in a reading rut, but there's several books out there I'd like to get my hands on.  As far as TV goes, I've been watching lots of Gilmore Girls, Fixer Upper, and Curious George.

9.  What I'm listening to:

I've been listening to LOTS of different stuff on Amazon Music.  I've been listening to lots of Justin Timberlake, Ace of Base, Michelle Branch, and other things from my childhood.  During class we've been listening to Disney music.

10.  What I'm wearing:

I've had to get back in the swing of wearing work clothes, and it hasn't been easy!  I've been reaching for lots of comfy cardigans to get me through!

11.  What I'm doing this weekend:

Other than a basketball game of Coop's and church, we have nothing on our agenda for this weekend.  Like I said, I'm trying to quarantine everyone to keep us healthy!  😷  I'm sure we'll watch the Super Bowl, but we don't have any plans for it as of now.

12.  What I'm looking forward to next month:

I'm really looking forward to Abel's 2nd birthday & our trip to Disney!  It's a big month for us!

13.  What else is new:

Not much else is new with out clan.  Cooper still has a few more weeks left of basketball and then we move to soccer.  Coop says he's not playing this year, but Clark wants to.  Like I mentioned above, we're getting ready to list our house, so we're keeping an eye out for houses we like.  We found one we love, so we'll see what happens.  

We've Cut the Cord

We did it - we got rid of cable TV.  We've been cable free for about a week now, and I thought I'd give you a little rundown on how it's going.  We had been thinking about doing this for awhile, and I asked for lots of opinions from Facebook friends before we decided which route to take.  So, here's what we're doing in our household!

We had Direct TV and were happy with it, but we were paying a fortune for it.  We already had Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime TV, so the only change we made when getting rid of Direct TV last week was upping our Hulu subscription to Hulu Live.  This gave us a pretty good option on channels we could watch live, just like live cable TV, plus we kept everything we had before and were used to (like Curious George).  There were a ton of streaming options out there (Sling TV, YouTube TV, Playstation Vue, etc.), but we settled on Hulu Live for a couple of reasons.  First, they are the only streaming service that offers live showings of The Big Bang Theory, it has a DVR option (so we can DVR Big Bang when we're not home), they have all seasons of Curious George, some of our local channels are offered live (just like cable), and it saved us from adding another subscription service.  We went back and forth between this and Sling TV, but we've been happy with it so far.  

We've watched a big golf tournament, the Australian Open, Kentucky basketball, Fixer Upper, The Big Bang Theory, Curious George, and all the Disney Jr. shows the boys like.  We don't have NBC live, but we have NBC Sports, so I'm about 95% sure we'll have the Super Bowl live on Sunday.  I'm not a football fan, but I want to watch Justin Timberlake's halftime show (with the option of rewinding), so I'm hoping it'll be on there.  Between Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, the only show I can't find (for free) that the boys like is Peppa Pig.  AMC isn't offered on Hulu Live, so Andy can't watch The Walking Dead until it comes on Netflix.  He says he doesn't care, so hopefully that won't be a big deal.  You can buy current seasons of shows on Amazon and get the episodes as they air, so if he's desperate, he's got that option.  😉  My mom loves watching The Today Show if Abel's not up yet, but that's only on demand.  It's one day behind, but I realize that's a bit pointless since it's a news show.  It can be watched live though at our house.  Any big network shows can be found on demand though, so that's fine with us.  I couldn't tell you the last time I sat down to watch a show, besides sporting events, that was in real time.  It just doesn't happen with three kids.  

If we need all of our local channels (like NBC for The Today Show), we have that option with a Comcast Cable box that works like an antenna.  It just sits under our TV, so we don't have the hassle of fooling with an actual antenna.  We don't have a DVR option with it, but it gets the job done when it needs to.  If for some reason NBC Sports isn't showing the Super Bowl on Sunday, we can watch it through that.

I've been happy with our switch, and haven't missed any shows that I like or watched regularly.  I'd be shouting from the rooftops and telling everyone to switch if we could just get our internet working properly.  We have Comcast internet (EPB isn't in our area), and we've had a ton of trouble with it.  We upped our package when we went to all streaming, and it's been a bit of a nightmare.  We've been on the phone with Comcast almost daily, and we've had technicians at our house 4 or 5 times since we switched last week.  We upped our speed big time, but our streaming shows still freeze, have a bad picture, or buffer randomly while we're watching them.  For the speed we have, we shouldn't have any issues.  Another technician came out today, so I'm hoping the issue will be resolved this time.  They've been very helpful at Comcast, it's just frustrating.  

All in all, I'm happy with our switch.  It's going to save us about $90, so that's a welcomed change.  If we end up not being happy with it, we can always go back to cable, but so far it's been fine.  I'll let you know how it goes once our internet is working properly.

Friday Favorites {1/26/18}

Happy Friday!  It was LONG week this week due it being our first full week back at school since Christmas break.  It was an extremely full one, too.  I didn't think we were going to survive it!  We're all very tired, but we're ready for the weekend.  We don't have a ton on the agenda, so that's nice.  I've got my indoor triathlon Sunday morning, and let me tell you, I'm not feeling very athletic!  I'm doing two of my best friends, so it'll be fun, regardless!

We finally had some warmer weather this week (it was 70° over the weekend and in the 50s this week), and these boys loved it!  They love playing outside, so we're always happy when it's warmer!   We're hoping for some warmer temperatures this weekend, too.

How in the world is this baby almost 2??  I can't believe his birthday is in a few short weeks!  He's still a mommy's boy, and he's been so excited when I've gotten home every day this week.  Being back at school for a full week was hard for him, too!

Saturday night we had a get together with our Sunday school class, and we had so much fun!  We ate dinner and played some games.  We played Speak Out, and it was hilarious!  The mouthpiece about killed me, but I haven't laughed 

Our Magic Bands for Disney World arrived this week!  The boys and I have been tempted to wear them all week, but I'm keeping them hidden so they don't get into them.  I'm so excited about this trip!  I'm ready to start packing (I'm a very early packer), but I'm still trying to figure out what the weather in Orlando is going to be like when we're there.  

This little cutie got his stitches removed yesterday!  Andy took him to the Chick-fil-a inside the hospital when he was done, so they had a big day!  His bottom looks great, and he's so happy the stitches are gone.  I'm glad to have all of this behind us now (pun intended 😉).

This handsome boy put on my glasses this morning and looked adorable!  I told him he looked like Clark Kent!  I've had several people ask me if we named him after Superman, but he was named after the superior Clark, Clark Griswold.  😂

 This sweet pup tries his best to stay up late with me when I'm on a Gilmore Girls binge, but most of the time he just can't hang.  He's so big to not even be 1 yet!  He's definitely still a puppy, but he's so sweet.  He stays right with you wherever you go, and lays right at your feet when you sit down.  I'm telling you, I don't think I'll ever have another dog breed after having a Goldendoodle.  They are the best!

We took him to a new groomer this week because PetCo just wasn't cutting it anymore (they absolutely butchered him last time).  We took him to Aqua Dog Grooming, out by the mall, and they did a fabulous job!  It was worth every penny!  He feels like a big cotton ball.

We're still enjoying our Echo!  We use Alexa for everything!  The boys love telling her to play music for random dance parties.  I'm planning on taking it to Disney to use as our white noise machine at bedtime!

Alright, I hope everyone has a great weekend!  

Currently

I saw this on another blog, and I thought I'd borrow the idea (and tweak it a little).  This is a little round up of things I'm doing currently (or things I'm currently thinking about).  Most of these are just in my "current" timeframe (such as the last week or this week), not at this exact moment per say.  

1.  Making - Lesson plans out the wazoo!  Our snow break last week messed everything up, so I've been redoing and shifting all of my plans.  I'm also busy making assignments to go with these new, lovely plans!

2.  Cooking - Last night we had cubed steak and baked potatoes.  Tonight I've got a late meeting at school, so I won't be cooking anything.  The rest of the week is a bit of a tossup too.  I did a lot of baking this weekend, so I've been cooking sweets as well... I definitely don't need to eat them though!

3.  Drinking - The only thing I drink on a regular basis is water.  I need to drink a lot more of it though.

4.  Eating - I'm trying to get back in the swing of meal planning now that we're back in school, but I've been eating a lot of sweets lately.  I baked peanut butter cookies this weekend, so I've eaten more of those than I should!  We went to City Cafe this weekend, so we left with cake.  We're hopeless!  😂

5.  Reading - I'm currently reading this, but I just can't get into it.  I'm about halfway through, and I'm not just dying to keep reading.  I'm also doing a study of the book of Matthew through She Reads Truth, and it's great!

6.  Wanting -  I'm wanting some new shoes and athletic pants for our trip to Disney World, but I haven't bit the bullet yet.  I need to get something soon!

7.  Looking -  I'm looking at shoes and pants for our trip!  I look all day long, but like said, I haven't settled on anything.  I'm also looking at the weather a lot in Orlando!

8.  Playing - I wasn't big on games, and then I met Andy.  He and his family play cards all the time, so he's rubbed off on me some.  I still don't like a lot of "Northern" card games, but I enjoy Rook a lot.  We got a new game for our little New Year's party called Quiddler, and we've been playing it recently.  It's a word game, so I don't have to use a ton of strategy for it.  I don't like strategic games!  We also played Speak Out this weekend, and while it was hilarious, it tore my mouth up!  I haven't laughed that hard in a long time though!  

I'm not playing basketball, but we're currently in the middle of that with Cooper.  He really loves it, so it's fun to watch him!

9.  Wasting -  I've been wasting a lot of time watching Gilmore Girls!  We got a new Roku for our streaming TV services, and this new one just goes immediately into the next episode, so it sucks me every time!  

10.  Buying -  The last thing I bought for myself (it was really for the whole family though) was an Amazon Echo.  Other than that, I haven't bought anything since Christmas!  I want to buy some new clothes for our trip though!

12.  Hoping -  I'm desperately hoping nobody catches the flu before/when we go to Disney.  I know I sound like a broken record talking about this trip, but it's a big one for us.  I feel like we could fight our way back to health if someone gets strep or an ear infection (pretty much anything that requires antibiotics), but the flu is hard to push through.  

13.  Marveling -  I'm marveling that my little miracle baby is almost 2 years old!  How in the world is that right?  It makes me so sad!

14.  Needing -  More sleep!  I don't go to bed early enough, and I'm tired all the time!

15.  Wearing -  I'm currently wearing work clothes!  I have to go back to work for a meeting in a little bit, so I didn't change.  This outfit includes black skinny pants, a long flannel shirt, and wedges.  I rolled my ankle big time this morning in the middle of one of my classes, thanks to my lovely wedges.  I almost fell into the wall, and my sweet 5th graders laughed hysterically.  😂  My ankle is still feeling it!

  

16.  Praying -  I'm praying for guidance about our housing situation!  We looked at some houses this weekend and found one we love.  Of course, it was the most expensive one we saw, so that scares me some.  Andy's getting our house ready to list with our realtor, so that scares me too.  I don't do well with making decisions for a MAJOR life change like this, so I'm doing lots of praying!

17.  Noticing -  I've been noticing how it's staying light longer each evening, and I love it!  Long evenings are one of my favorite things!

18.  Knowing -  I'm knowing that all of the stuff I've mentioned I'm worried about, God is in control of it all.  That's a very reassuring thought!

19.  Thinking -  I'm thinking about how much we've got going on in the next month, and all we have to do to get ready for these things.  I'm trying really hard to not get overwhelmed!

20.  Opening -  I'm opening lots of reading assessments, comma tests, and lesson plans!  I feel like I stay on top of things at school pretty well, but every few weeks it all just blows up in my face!  We've got a big deadline this Friday for reading assessments, so I've been working on those a ton.

21.  Giggling -  I'm still giggling, or laughing hysterically, at this video!  I lauded at everyone who played this the other night at our Sunday school class get together, but I probably laughed at Andy the hardest.  He never laughs as hard as he does at himself, so he thinks it's hilarious too.  

22.  Craving -  Let's be honest here... I'm always craving cookie dough or some kind of chocolate.  It's bad!  I also crave breakfast food a lot, too.

23.  Feeling -  I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment with work, our house, Abel's birthday, and our trip all looming on the horizon, but I'm trying my best to keep it under control!

24.  Loving -  I'm currently loving this slightly warmer weather we're having, our new Amazon Echo (Alexa is my new BFF), and Amazon Music Unlimited!  I know that's a very random assortment, but those are my faves right now.

25.  Wishing -  I never like to wish for time to pass, but I'm ready for our Disney trip!  I'm wishing for February 17th! 😉

Friday Favorites {1/19/18}

Happy Friday!  It's been a bit of a crazy week due to Coop's surgery, Abel being so sick, and the crazy weather we've had.  We had four days off of school this week, and we have a two hour delay today, so we'll be there for a total of about 5 hours this week.  I'm grateful for the time we've had off though because it's given Cooper a whole week to recover from his surgery, and it's given me time to stay with Abe while he's been sick.  I'm also hoping all the time off with help with the flu!  It's so bad now, but I'm hoping everyone has had a chance to get over it this week.  Alright, here are my favorites for the week!

Cooper was so brave when he had his mole removal surgery last Friday!  They did it while he was awake, and he handled it like a champ!  He cried the whole time, but he laid extremely still and didn't fight us at all.  If I had surgery while awake, I'd probably cry the whole time, too!  He watched Captain Underpants and The Nightmare Before Christmas while everything was going on, so that helped keep him distracted some.  He's been sore this week, but it hasn't slowed him down much.  He's been a real trooper this week.

The nurse called us Monday, and all of his pathology reports came back normal!  We were so relieved!  She told me that the doctor was afraid it would come back pre-melanomia, so I'm so thankful everything was ok.

 This sweet baby had a rough go of it last weekend.  His single ear infection from last week turned into a double by the weekend.  He was so sick Saturday morning that I just knew he had the flu, but it was his ears.  He felt terrible all weekend, and he only had eyes for me.  No matter what we did, he was unhappy, so he pretty much wallowed all over me all weekend (and through the rest of the week).  It wore us both out!  We saw one of the new doctors in our pediatric group, and he liked him!  Our beloved pediatrician, Dr. Gary Meredith (who is one of my favorite people on the planet), is nearing retirement age, so I'm keeping that in the back of my mind as we meet these new doctors.  Dr. Meredith has never mentioned retiring, but I know it's inevitable.  I'm hoping he's got several more years left in him though!

 Saturday Andy and the boys worked all afternoon to make me these cute storage shelves for our garage.  I'm really bad about piling all of my school stuff in the garage floor, right by the van, and it makes a mess.  We can store a ton of stuff on them, plus I can hang my school bag and everything else up on them.  They're very Fixer Upper-ish, too!  We're planning on listing our house sometime this spring, so I told him he'd have to build more if we buy a new house!  

Why are kids so much sweeter when they're asleep?  😂  I check on the babies every night before I head to bed, and it always cracks me up to see where they end up in bed each night.  Cooper and Clark have bunk beds, but they insist on sleeping on the bottom, full bunk together each night.  They are usually sprawled all over the place (sometimes with their heads down at the bottom), so this night was relatively calm.  A lot of times when I check on Abel, his little head pops up and he reaches for me, so I'll rock him a few minutes until he falls back asleep.  That's what happened on this particular evening.

We had 3 snow days this week, despite not having any snow.  We got a light dusting Tuesday, but the icy roads and frigid temperatures kept us out the other days.  We watched way too much TV, and just tried to survive the cabin fever.  It was too cold to do anything, but I snuck the boys out for a few pictures yesterday morning.  

We want to get rid of our cable, so we're trying out Hulu Live this week with its free trial.  As silly as it sounds, I have many concerns and opinions about getting rid of cable, but Hulu has been fine so far.  We shall see what we end up doing!

We're also trying the free trail of Amazon Music Unlimited.  We already have Amazon Music since we're Prime customers, but Unlimited has so much more music!  You can find anything you find on iTunes on there, so it's awesome!  Justin Timberlake's brand-new stuff is on there, so I'd keep it just for that!  I would have music going all the time if I could, so I'm a big fan!  Andy listens to music a lot too, so I won't be surprised if we end up subscribing to this next month.

We haven't got this yet (it'll be here tomorrow), but I ordered us an Echo this week!  My parents and siblings all have one, as well as most of Andy's family, and they all love them.  The boys love using them, so I pulled the trigger.  It sounds like you can do just about anything on them, so I'm excited!

I know probably nobody else is a tennis nerd like me, but I've been loving the Australian Open this week!  Having no school has made it easy to watch.  It comes on at very odd hours due to the time difference, but I've been DVRing it, or just watching it when it replays.  Nadal is killing it, and I must say, I'm a fan of his outfit!  😂

I'm sorry if you're tired of all things Disney, but we're less than a month away from our trip!  We've paid for it, and all the little details are coming together.  It's been a dream of mine to go for forever, so I can't believe it's really happening!