Backpack obsessed + a Yak Pak giveaway

Remember how Lorelai seemed so jealous of the boys when we were back-to-school shopping? She had her own backpack picked out and everything. For at least a month, every time we walked by the backpack section, she'd point to one and say "I need that" (heavy emphasis on the need). I always put her off by saying "you don't need that now, we'll put it on your birthday or Christmas list" and moved her along.

So when Yak Pak contacted me about reviewing one of their products, of course I jumped at the chance and knew exactly what I wanted to get. I chose the deluxe backpack in this fun star pattern (the purple was a must for Lorelai) and it's safe to say my girl is obsessed.



The first thing Lorelai did with it was pack it up with her baby doll, teddy bear, blanket, shoes, plastic kitchen fruit--you know, the essentials ;)--for a day trip to Grandma's house. Then we used it again last weekend on our trip to the beach. It's obviously big on her now, but it's a great size to hold whatever she needs for short trips away from home, and she'll grow into more by the time she goes to kindergarten in two years. The material is nice and sturdy (much better than the cheapo backpack we got Aidan and had to return...TWICE...to Target) so I know it'll last for a while.


Whoa, a glimpse into my future with her first day of school photo or what?!


But don't even try to tell Lorelai that she has to wait two years. As soon as she loaded up her backpack, she headed straight to the car saying, "okay, let's go to kindergarten now!"



Oh girl. You may be ready for that, but I'm SO not. Let's just stick to pretend kindergarten with your cute backpack for now. :)




Would you like a chance to win a YakPak product? Not only do they have cute backpacks and messenger bags in lots of fun patterns, but they've got lunch totes, pet accessories, headphones, iphone cases and more. Just enter via the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Full Disclosure: I was provided the backpack for a review. All opinions are my own.

Summer 2013 bucket list wrap-up

With summer officially coming to a close in less than a week (noooo!), I figure it's about time I recap all the things we did on our bucket list, some of which I never blogged about. Doh!

Unlike last year, we completed everything on the list. Unfortunately, you'll have to take my word for the fishing and the sparklers. The boys went on a fishing trip with the grandparents so I wasn't there to take pictures (bummer, because I'm sure the pics would have been so stinkin' cute! Adam and I will have to find time to go with them sometime...). And we did sparklers on the 4th of July when we were waiting in front of Target for the fireworks to start, but it wasn't really dark yet, and since we were in a parking lot, the only 2 pictures I took were lame. Maybe this weekend at the beach we can try again?



Anyway, we really did have a great summer and I'm super sad to see it go.

• We played in the rain
• We went to a baseball game
• We made ice cream (but need to do it again...many times...for sure!)
• We went to the beach
• We went to the movies (twice--Monsters U and "Despicable Moobie" as Lorelai says)
• We made lemonade (several times, so yummy!)

We also ran through the sprinkler and had some water balloon fights. Two birds, one stone...twice! Once at the beginning of the summer when their cousins from Atlanta were in town.





Oh, how we love seeing them, and wish it could be more often. The kids always have so.much.fun together!





And then again at Lorelai's birthday party. I think that might have actually been three birds with one stone, because that ended up being the most perfect activity for a party I was completely stressing about. (Thanks to Desiree for that awesome suggestion!)




Pay no attention to the weeds and dirt we call a back"yard." We've since done some patch seeding and it's looking...maybe a little bit better?





Since our summer break from school is only 5 weeks long, it's easy to feel like we got gypped out of a "real" summer. But darned if we didn't make the most of it, even after the boys were back in school.

Although many of these are things we probably would have done anyway (some probably not!), it's nice to put them in a list that we can check off and look back on to see that we really did make a lot of great summer memories.

Jinx and vomit

I probably should have knocked on wood after I wrote up such a lovely birthday post for Logan, talking about how he had turned a corner with the meltdowns and was handling his feelings a little bit more appropriately. Either I had totally selective memory while I was caught up in my birthday nostalgia, or I totally jinxed myself.


I wrote the first half of that post the day before his birthday, but by the time I had written the rest and was ready to post, he was already proclaiming his day ruined and he was having the worst birthday ever. Dramatic much? And this is what happened when I dared to ask for a photo with the child I birthed from my loins 7 years ago on that day.


How dare I?!?


Unfortunately, during a total cluster of a time trying to get a tantruming Lorelai down for her nap, Logan got yelled at (not by me! Orange Rhino FTW!). And even though I tried to calmly remedy the situation, it spiraled out of control. He stormed up to his room, said he was going to throw away all his presents, and said all kinds of hurtful things to me like "you don't love me! You never love me!" It was certainly nowhere near as bad as his temper tantrums have gotten in the past, but it was extra hurtful because it was on such a special day, and I truly, honestly, was nothing but sweet and comforting to him when he got upset. (Side note: I'm giving myself mad props for not having any kind of mental breakdown or screaming match from all of the tantrums going on. Deep breaths...)

On the plus side, he came out of it fairly quickly, and was all better by the time his cousins came over so they could enjoy some quality time eating pizza and brownies and playing Skylanders on the Wii.

But...BUT! It wasn't all sunshine and birthday unicorns from there on out. By 9pm, he was writhing in pain on the bathroom floor with a horrible stomach ache, and then proceeded to puke up his entire dessert. Because of course. Of course Logan couldn't have been spared, on his birthday no less, from the vomit that has plagued our house for what was now the 3rd weekend in a row. First Lorelai, then Aidan. I should have seen it coming for Logan from a mile away. Sure, I think it had much more to do with the 3 chocolate donuts, a few slices of pizza and one monster-sized birthday brownie he scarfed down over the course of the day as opposed to whatever Lorelai and Aidan had. But still. 3 kids, 3 weekends of puke. Lovely.

We're all better now, so if Adam and I can make it through this weekend without either of us throwing up, maybe our "lucky" streak will be broken. Fingers crossed. Toilet bowls thoroughly cleaned, just in case. :)


PS: I have to say that I really do think Logan has turned that corner. And no matter what this post sounds like in my effort to document our reality--both the good and the bad--I meant every single heartfelt word I said about him. Just in case that didn't go without saying.

PPS: For the record--he done went crazy again this morning when I asked him to be more helpful like Aidan. Apparently what he heard was "I hate you, Logan." Sigh. 

Seven.

Happy 7th birthday to my sweet, charming, shy, funny, friendly, sensitive, crazy, athletic, smart, loving Logan.



I don't want to jinx myself, but I kind of feel like Logan has turned a corner in this last year. The meltdowns are less frequent and less intense, which is a huge deal. He's still sensitive and gets his feelings hurt pretty easily, but he's learning how to handle that better. And his teacher told me the other day that he was really "adaptable and go-with-the-flow." Say what?! Music to my ears, for sure.

He's doing amazingly well in school. Blowing his assessment scores out of the water, in the top learning group for each of his subjects (reading, spelling and math) and really seeming to enjoy it. When I asked him if he was raising his hand in class to participate, he said yes. When I asked if he got the answer right, he gave me a coy little smile and said "I always get the answer right." I love seeing that confidence coming from him.

He's still so good with his sister, loves playing with Aidan, and makes friends left and right. He's maturing right before my eyes, and I love seeing this glimpse of the man he could turn out to be.



Some other things I want to remember about Logan at age 7:

• He's into Skylanders and Pokeman, making a beeline straight there with no hesitation when birthday shopping with Grandma and Grandpa. He's also into Legos like his brother, and they're still saving up for the Death Star together.
• He likes reading Flat Stanley, Captain Underpants and Frannie K Stein books. He's got excellent reading comprehension and reading fluency (MClass level K; goal for beginning of 1st grade is E), but he still prefers to be read to at home.
• He's much less inclined to spend his allotted technology time sitting on the couch watching a TV show--he'd much rather watch Adam play his League of Legends computer game.
• He's still super athletic, although we don't have him in any organized sports right now. I think we might try basketball this winter.
• He's a whiz at arcade games, just like his dad.
• He can seriously chow down on some food. I swear, he eats burritos and bananas Conehead style!

*******

I totally dropped the ball this year and didn't plan any kind of official party. Instead, his special request was to have breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts and go to Adventure Landing to play some putt-putt and arcade games.



We had a great time, just the five of us (ahem, no matter what Logan says to the contrary after his feelings got hurt during a Lorelai tantrum...). And tonight we'll have a pizza party with Grandma Ellie and cousins Shaun and Raina. Low key, but enjoyable.



To my Logie-lou, I couldn't be more proud of you if I tried. You're an amazing person, and I'm so excited to continue to watch you grow and learn. Tonight at 5:40, I'll hug you tight and remember the moment you came into this world and into my life, changing it forever for the better. I love you more than words.


Cheer up, buttercup! It's your birthday!

Not ready for summer to end

Labor day is supposed to be the symbolic end of summer, but I'm really not ready to say goodbye. Teeth chattering, cold toes, frozen fingers? No thank you. Sure, pumpkin spice lattes are great, boots are cute and Christmas is fun, but as soon as we get our first cold day, I'm already dreaming about the magic of spring and warm weather while cursing as the thermometer dips anywhere below 55 (okay, 60, if we're being honest).

But saying goodbye to summer is a must, which we started to do this Labor Day.






We went to the pool and had a cookout with family to celebrate, and soaked in every bit of the warm weather, cool water, and yummy grilled steaks and hot dogs.









We even checked the last item off our summer bucket list just in the nick of time--Grandma brought her ice cream maker for the kids to make homemade vanilla chocolate chip ice cream.


Should even I mention that I ordered our very own ice cream maker at the beginning of the summer but never pulled it out of the box? Oops. Grandma to the rescue!



I'd say the whole day gets a two thumbs up all around, even if it does mean we're that much closer to fall. Notice I'm still hanging on tightly to these last couple of weeks before the officially official autumn equinox on September 22. The day we get back from the beach--perfect timing. :)

Finding the good

It takes a certain mindset to be able to look on the bright side and find some good in any situation, and I know for me, that mindset is tough to get into a lot of times. It's something I've been working on though, both for myself and with the kids.

It's something I'm coming back to now, because Lorelai has been challenging lately. Work has been challenging lately. Occasionally homework has been challenging. So in this moment, I'm choosing to find the good out of those challenging moments.

"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful." ~Buddha


>>>Lorelai was sick last weekend, but at least I got to cuddle her when she crawled up in my arms when she fell asleep.



>>>We thought she was feeling better so we went to see Despicable Me 2 and walked around the mall. Unfortunately, it was too much too soon for her, because as we were playing outside, she took a turn for the worse and threw up again. At least it was on the driveway, and not on the couch where we almost took her.



>>>Adam was out of town last week, but at least I got through two mornings, on schedule, without a single meltdown.

>>>Of course work is pretty much always challenging in one way or another, but at least I was able to take a vacation day on Friday to volunteer at our elementary school's Boosterthon Fun Run fundraiser.



>>>For the second year in a row, I saw a parent cheating at the fundraiser by marking off laps some kids didn't earn, and kids cheating by cutting through the course. At least I know my kids followed the rules, were good sports, and got legit credit for the laps the earned the hard way. (And at least the school got more money for those falsified laps? I don't know--this one still bothers me...)



>>>Aidan got sick in the middle of the night this weekend, projectile vomiting all over the bathroom. At least he made it to the more easily cleanable bathroom and didn't get it on the carpet. And at least he was able to sleep in until almost 9:30 to make up for lost sleep and recover so he was all better the next day. (Special thanks to Adam for letting me sleep in as well!).

Most of all, what gets me through any day, any tough moment: At least I have my family, and the deep love we share.

And it never hurts to be completely silly sometimes, even in the midst of a homework meltdown or Cheeto meltdown . That's always a good thing. ;)




PS: Sorry for all the gross sick talk...but it's a big part of what's made things feel challenging lately!