Okay, so first, we can’t do a Friday Favorites without sharing a picture of this little man.  

He has been waiting to get into a school classroom for two years.  Every day I would drop KJ off, KJ often hesitates to go in, while KK would try to sneak in his place.  While he was nervous on meet-the-teacher day, he settled in quickly and didn’t even hesitate when I left for the first day of school.  For him, all the stimulation and the new things to see and play with are exhilarating.  He’s only going twice a week right now, while I worried he might not be going often enough to get into routine, I think he enjoys being a big boy only some of the days of the week.  

Labor Day Weekend

We had our first visitor over the weekend, and it was so much fun!  Mr. Hungry’s cousin (also baby girl’s Godmother) visited us.  We spent a lot of time grilling and swimming and took the kids to the zoo in Fort Worth on the actual holiday! The zoo was absolutely amazing. It felt like being in a jungle with so much green tree coverage!  The layout was nice and easy to follow; the animals were up close where you could see them, and there was a lot of tree coverage to protect them from the sun.  10/10 experience. We bought a year pass for the whole family!

Yes, I went to the zoo too; who do you think was taking all the photographs?  bahahahahaha 

Amazon Favorites

Since we moved last month and school started, there have been a lot of new Amazon finds I wanted to share with you!  I mean a lot.  I won’t re-share the kids lunchbox stuff, I listed that in this post.  Everything I ordered new in that post is working wonderfully, and I would 100% recommend it.  

Do you ever get overwhelmed with Amazon?  One thing we had to order this month was soap dispensers.  It’s one of those things that you want to do quickly but then your inundated with so many choices I close the app and forget to go back to it, then the process repeats 3-5 times before I either ask Mr. Hungry to do it or just pick something.  I remember that’s how I felt building a baby registry, too; there were so many items and so many choices that the decision fatigue was a real thing.  Anywaaaayyyyyyssss…. 

Basketball Hoop

For those of you wondering how the Basketball Hoop that Mr. Hungry ordered off Amazon turned out, here it is! It took him about 6 hours total, it definitely wasn’t plug and play like the description said, but it wasn’t the worst thing he ever built (that trophy still goes to the Amazon bathroom cabinet.) 

It’s pretty sturdy for building yourself and for the price point!  

National Geographic Butterfly Kit

Okay, so this National Geographic Butterfly Kit kit ended up being pretty cool.  This was one of those things that morphed into something else really quickly.  I find that happens as a parent. Sometimes, you’re down a rabbit hole that you have no idea how you even entered. That’s what happened here.  KJ had found a bunch of caterpillars on walks and needed food/home for them. I ordered this kit because it said it had everything it needed.  That wasn’t exactly true.  It comes with a code to order caterpillars, which come with food.  And the “code” to buy the caterpillars still makes you pay 13 bucks in shipping, but I had initially ignored that since we had caterpillars.  It turns out that to get the caterpillar food, you have to order the caterpillars.  So then we ordered the caterpillars, and in the meantime, the ones he found died.  

A week later, the caterpillars come, and you watch them get bigger and bigger until they form cocoons.  Then you move them to the butterfly cage, and when they emerge from the cacoon, you can feed them sugar water solution in a specialized flower bowl that has a sponge in the middle to keep them from drowning.  I know. It’s an interesting process.  

This was really cool and also a bit traumatic.  One of the butterflies emerged deformed and died pretty quickly, so that was pretty sad.  It left some sort of red substance all over the habitat.  The other butterflies also left the red substance, but much, much less, when they emerged too, which was gross.  But the butterflies were cool, and KJ really loved them.  He wasn’t planning on letting them go, but when the first one died, he decided it was better to let the rest go.  They are painted lady butterflies, which, according to Google, are the most common butterflies in the world.  

Simple Modern Tumblr Kids Water Bottles

I really love these water bottles for the kids.  KJ has the big one, and I just ordered two more smaller ones for KJ and NJ.  

Period Underwear

I honestly can’t get enough of these Amazon Period Underwear.  I really like how smooth they fit, the material, and that they provide just enough protection you don’t need to wear any kind of panty liner.  

Go To Cheap Sunglasses

I don’t know about you, but I have 8 thousand bags.  I use a work bag, a diaper bag, a small crossbody bag as a purse, etc… I’m always switching bags, and if it’s not that, then it’s the kids taking my sunglasses.  I don’t know where they all disappear, but these are my go-to cheap glasses I order when I inevitably lose another pair.  Someday, I’ll get to have nice sunglasses again. 

Octopus Shower Curtain 

This rental house has three full bathrooms, so I needed another shower curtain.  I love the vibrant watercolor colors on this one, and the kids love the Octopus (they are really into this book called Inky the Octopus.)  

Cast Iron Cleaning Tool

We threw away the old steel wool pads when we moved. I wanted something less gross, so I tried this cast iron cleaning tool, and I love it!  A great alternative to steel wool!  Paired with my cast iron brush, it does the trick!

Nap Mat

We ordered this nap matt for KK and he loves it, it folds down really small which is a bonus.  He loves it so much that he is the only kid in his class who falls asleep during nap time, which means he’s up until 9 PM those nights.  Order at your own risk.  

Electric Pencil Sharpener 

This pencil sharpener is easy enough for KJ to use on his own!

Pipette Sunscreen

With all the drama going on with Beauty Counter (I don’t sell I just buy the products, but I got enough emails to know that company is going through it) I decided to try Pipette face sunscreen and spray sunscreen.  Both are great!  Very similar to the beauty counter products.  Heads up the spray does leave a white case on your skin, just about any mineral sunscreen does.  I used to love the beauty counter-tinted one, but they don’t sell it anymore. 

New Spatulas

I guess my spatulas were insufficient for cooking eggs, according to Mr. Hungry.  He loves these spatulas and often says, “Where’s my spatula?” Which makes me giggle.  I have to admit they are pretty good quality and just the right size if you are in the market for a new spatula.  

Bathroom Organizers

Soooo, the rental bathroom is interesting.  There aren’t any handles on the bathroom cabinets, so they can’t be locked.  This means nothing even remotely dangerous to the kids can be put down there.  Also, anything I don’t want to spend six years picking up.  I miss our big bathroom drawers, which held so much stuff and were hard for the kids to open.  Now, I’m using these.  I think they are cute and a great fix for what we need right now.  I would prefer cabinets with drawers, though, if I were being honest.  But I’m embarrassing the temporary situation we are in, for however long it ends up being temporary.. 3 Drawers| 4 Drawers |Hair Tools Holder

Kitchen Organizers

The kitchen in the rental was recently redone, so it’s pretty nice.  I’ve still had to get some organizers, though, to really make everything good to go.  Pan organizers are my number one!  I have this one and this one.  

 

I also use a ton of risers in the cabinets and the pantry.  

Automatic Soap Dispensers

These are the soap dispensers I ordered for the guest bathroom and kitchen area.  They are great because the kids can use them easily without making a mess! They are battery-operated.  I don’t know about you but I’d be fine if I never saw another charging cable in my life.  I don’t need anything else to charge, ever. Clutter overload.  

Friday Fitness

I’m finally finally finally feeling a bit more normal when it comes to working out, still using baby weights though. Walking Nala a few mornings a week, too.  

• 8/29  (T) – Run 
• 8/30 (F) – Leg Workout 
• 8/31-9/2 OFF
• 9/3 (T) – Run 3 miles
• 9/4 (W) – Leg Workout 
• 9/5 (R) – Minimal upper body workout – my first one since the neck injury!

That’s it.  If you have read this far, I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Friday Flashbacks

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

Air Fryer Gnocchi