A few weeks ago Pley.com reached out to me about their new toy rental service. Not just any toy, but toys that promote problem solving and new learning skills, which I was really drawn to. Jace is sort of into “pretend” lately, but all the more toys to help him discover and strategize, the better! They asked me to try a toy and see how the process went for us. So here’s how it goes. You pick a toy, they mail it to you (all clean and santized), you “pley” for as long as you want and then return it when you’re done! No more toys to add to your stack of toys building up in the closet, no clutter .. you simply recycle! You can do it as many times as you want in a month’s span for the one price, or you can keep the toy for a month and change it out the next month. Plus, for every new sign-up, Pley donates a toy to a child in need. Pretty rad if you ask me.
Or should I say here I grow agan?! Ha! I’m 14 weeks to be exact and am so flippin’ excited! Being pregnant for a second time feels very different from the first, probably because I definitely KNOW it’s a human in there this time (I was convinced Jace was an alien, hahaha). But, I must say, the first 12 weeks felt harder than the first 12 with Jace. I’ve been more nauseated (or so it seems) and have lived on lime popsicles and preggo pops. Aside from grapefruit and strawberries, I’ve craved almost the same as when I was pregnant with J, including Burger King, Panda Express, Taco Bell .. basically anything that is fast food or bad for you that entails beef or a manwich sauce. Bedtime for me lately is around 8:30p, after I get Jace down, and weekends are now used for napping. My little bump seemed to pop pretty early, too; I already can’t button my jeans and am bringing out all my dresses. No matter how much sick nights I’ve had this go around, I’m so incredibly excited and can’t wait to find out what it is. I really want another boy (and already have a name picked out!), but will be happy with whatever God blesses us with. A girl might spice some things up in my very manly house! I mainly just want to eat good and take all my vitamins, and sleep. That’s really all I want to do. SLEEP. And Jace is already telling people so I don’t have to. He gets that I have a baby in my belly, and that’s what he tells people, but we still have a lot more to work on before he becomes a big brother;) Cannot wait .. we are so thrilled!
Well, I’m going to say it. Summer is long over! We’re officially into October in these parts and I couldn’t be more excited. I am so ready to bring out my fall colors and bake something with spice. Even picked up some pumpkin-spice bagels. But I also don’t want to forget the last few memories of summer. In August I was able to go back to Santa Cruz to see who else but my bestie, Heather. It was of course another wonderful weekend of catching up and seeing friends and enjoying the beautiful, cool weather under the redwoods. She definitely spoiled me with breakfast and a comfy bed, some bubbly and a wicked spread of delicious food to enjoy with friends. I also got a righteous sunburn from hanging in Capitola one afternoon. It was so worth it if you ask me. Man do I miss her, and all my good friends there. I’m so glad it worked out for me to go back a couple times this summer. I always have a relaxing, enjoyable time. We also started that show, Stranger Things. Have you all seen this?! So good, but not the best thing to watch when you’re a bunch of girls alone in the woods, haha.
A couple weeks ago we hosted a little house “cooling” and invited a bunch of our friends and family. Because the weather was still cooling down, a friend gave me the idea to just call it a house cooling and have a bunch of cold, freshing drinks and snacks. We threw some beer in a wheel barrel full of ice, put some rose over ice, served otter pops and salsa, and some fresh Papa Murphy’s pizza and called it a day! Man, we had so many people in our house! Of coures I took NO pictures of the crowd mingling, only these that my sister sent me. It was a busy night of catching up, house tours and scrambling to find more wine for the many guests! Our families hung out for the first part and then friends closed it out. Jace was on cloud nine of course with friends to swim and play water guns with. He also could be found sitting in his favorite blue patio chair, eating an otter pop (of which he had like 20!). Towards the end of the night the temps finally cooled down, and we turned the patio lights on closed down the pool. Such a great afternoon with our Arizona peeps!
Oh hey ya’ll! Thought it was time I post a video of our new home! We’ve really been enjoying every minute of it. Even the yard work (which is all we seem to do these days). After putting together some random footage from our first few days in the house to some of the moments over the summer, I realized that we spend about 90% of our time in our back yard, ha! This video is basically what we did all summer long – water gun fights, basketball and the pool! I didn’t capture much of anything else (sorry!). I think our back yard is truly our favorite part of our house .. Jace and Tacoma LOVE it! And can you tell how much I love my coral back door? ;) It’s the perfect accent to our favorite space. Hope you enjoy!