Bath time Favorites

Bath time is a little bit more hectic than it used to be. I remember than once Kess was old enough to sit up & play in the tub, I was able to read a book while she splished and splashed. Bath time became kind of relaxing for me. Now that we are back in the newborn stage of bath time & I'm bathing two kids at once... things get a little hectic. Manning loves to take baths. He just kicks and smiles as he watches Kess play on the other side of the tub. Poor Kess is squished into 1/2 of the tub, because Manning's little bathtub takes up a lot of room. But, I will say that Manning's little whale tub (similar here) is super helpful when bathing a tiny baby. They sit up great & it keeps them contained really well. The one I linked actually looks even better than the one I have.

I also love these soft little washcloths are perfect for scrubbing that soft baby skin. I use a fluffy loofah for Kess. She used to love when I would tickle/scrub her with these. Now she all grown up and opinionated and usually says, "I no scrub." Sorry kiddo.

As an infant Kess used to love playing with these little bath letters - now she grabs whatever barbie or little toys she's been playing with that day. I'll bust these back out when Manning can hold onto things.

As a mom, I feel like every baby product I use is controversial. Some component of whatever you use on your kid is apparently terrible. I try to not get too wrapped up in that random ingredient or piece of toy that's out to "kill your kid" but I do try to be mindful of what I'm feeding my kids, letting them play with & putting on their sensitive skin. Enter Tubby Todd. I first heard about Tubby Todd right when they opened up shop. It cost more than we typically spend on baby soap/shampoo, but I figured I would give it a shot. Santa put it in Kess' Christmas stocking that year.

It smells so good. It's not overpowering at all. Very light, fresh & clean. I love that I don't have to worry about the ingredients. In fact, you can find every ingredient listed in every one of their products on their site. I love that! Newborn skin is so sensitive and I've noticed that certain soaps make Manning's little baby skin red. I recently got their hair & body wash in the Fresh Floral scent & it smells so delicious. The Fresh Floral was part of their Spring line & their Summer line is now available for purchase. I think the Pineapple & Passion Fruit sounds heavenly. They also have Lavender & Rosemary as part of their every day Basics line. I am also a huge fan of the All Over Ointment. Kess had some eczema on her face that would flare up and the all over ointment kept it from drying out. I also love using the all over ointment on bum rashes and even my own hands. It's super soft and non-greasy!

As a momma on a budget I totally get that it's not ideal to spend $13 on baby wash, but I will say that I'm impressed with the ingredients, the light scent & how my babies skin reacts to it. I love spending a little extra to help someone's small business grow. Plus, we always buy it for special occasions like Easter Baskets & Christmas Stockings. They last a while & I love that I don't have to use a ton of the product to get a good lather & I love that you can now buy it in bulk to save a few dollars! Be sure to sign up for emails. You will hear about the good deals, sales and promo's first!

Friday Favorites

I've admitted it before, I'll admit it again... I'm not a fashion blogger. But, I do like to find decent deals on something I need/want.

A few years ago my sister & I planned a trip to Salt Lake City for a shopping trip. We had survived our first year of motherhood. And we needed a break ;) We happened to plan our trip the same week of the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. We didn't know much about it beyond that fact that all these fashion bloggers raved about it. We still couldn't afford half of the things they were sharing - even on sale... but then we arrived at Nordstrom & found some killer deals on every day things we would actually wear. We splurged a little on a few things like jeans that made us feel less frumpy and more fabulous.

I found a few pieces that I'll be purchasing from the #NSale that I wanted to share with you.

I've been looking for a slit neck tee for a more relaxed & grungy look. I'm still not sure if I can pull it off, but for $10 & free shipping both ways I'm going to give it a try.

Topshop Slash Tee

I love to dress up for church & since that's about the only time I'm not in some form of jeans & a t-shirt I tend to buy lots of dresses. I have a stash building up so I probably won't buy this, but I loooove it. Look how pretty!! & that price is unbeatable.

Faux Wrap Maxi

This tunic is great for fall. It pairs perfectly with leggings or jeans. I love this color, too! Tons of colors to choose from.

Lush Perfect Tunic

I'm always looking for a cute, comfortable flat to wear during the fall. I have all but worn out my converse, because I love them & they go with practically everything. These are a fancier step up & super cute. 

Blondo Ryan Waterproof Sneaker

I bought these jeans last year & they are by far my most favorite pair of jeans. As soon as I could squeeze my postpartum bod into them I did. And squeeze I did. I must have squeezed a little too much because They ripped in the crotch. I almost cried. They aren't in my size right now, but they restocked last year so I'll be watching these like a hawk. The price is awesome & the quality is great... despite my tragic story. 

Vigoss Released Hem Jeans

Ok, enough of the Nordstrom Sale. A few other things I'm loving right now are...

My Fitbit Charge 2 & leather replacement band. The new band looks just like a leather watch band which I love. I also love the pink & the snakeskin. I wear the original black band for *when* I workout. Which should probably be more often than it is... 

I've been working with Kess on her letters & let me tell you this... preschool teachers & kindergarten teachers are saints. Saints, I tell ya. Teaching Kess her shapes & colors was much easier than letters. I have a few activities up my sleeve, but because Kess is no longer napping, I usually have her watch an educational show & then she can watch a fun show. My kindergarten teacher friend swears by these videos, so I gave it a try. Kess absolutely loves the Letter Factory one. She's picking up on the things I'm teaching her quicker now, which is so much more fun... for everyone. 

I'll try to keep up with the "Friday Faves" more often. I always have fun stuff to show you guys & then my kids are all like, "Mom, we need attention" & crap like that. ;)

Family Weekend in McCall

Last weekend was such a busy blast of a few days. We decided to celebrate Kess' 3rd birthday & Manning's blessing all in one weekend. We did Kess' party at the park down the street from our house. We kept it super simple with burgers and hot dogs. I made Kess' cupcakes & popsicle cake. Just enough of a theme for her to get a kick out of her cake & that was about it. No decor, no frill... just a summertime BBQ with family and friends. Kess and her cousins & friends ran, played and ate until their hearts content. Of course, Kess loved that she got to open presents. She barely paused to say thank you before saying, "Let's open another one!!" I told my family to keep toys to a minimum - because let's face it she has way more than she needs already. So they stuck to clothes, art supplies and a few fun toys made their way in! ;)

Kess now has enough clothes to out last her constant outfit changes over the summer, enough play dough to last us through the next winter & plenty of fun activities & toys to keep her busy throughout the day. I love it! She played with play dough, painted, changed her outfit a few times and just kept on going yesterday. She was loving it - I finally had to put a cap on activities and outfit changes! Momma is tired. She was truly spoiled and loved every minute of it. In case you missed in on Instagram, Matt & I gave her a new balance bike. She loves it. She is slowly getting the hang of how it works. She watched her cousin Conrad & seemed to grasp how to use the bike a little better. Conrad has it down pat! It was so cute to watch them ride bikes together! I'm pretty sure Kess was on a birthday high because she couldn't fall asleep for a few hours after we put her in bed. I however, could have crashed at 9:00pm without a second thought.

The next morning we gave Manning a name and a blessing at church. I searched high and low for a cute blessing outfit. I couldn't find anything that I loved. So I settled on a white button down onesie, khaki pants & a cute little bow tie. My friend made his "brotie." You can find her Facebook group here. It was perfect & I figured since boys don't really care about passing down their blessing outfits to their kids - maybe Manning's wife will once day appreciate that I kept his bowtie!

Matt gave Manning a beautiful blessing. I always love to hear the spiritual things that cross Matt's mind as he uses the priesthood to bless our lives. He told Manning how much we love him & how we will always support him. He blessed him with the skills to develop the passions of his life. He blessed him to always seek the truth and to find the truth for himself. He blessed him to remember that if he falls he can get back up and keep going. He blessed him to be able to find peace and solace in the natural beauty of the world around him. I remember Matt blessing Kess with that same thing & I find it very fitting for where we now live. Sweet Manning was wide awake during the entire blessing & didn't make a peep. Then crashed for the rest of the meeting & every single picture. I think the rest of the men in my family wished they could have done the same thing. ;) Manning was surrounded by so many wonderful men during his blessing. Even those who were not in the circle - he is one blessed little boy to have so many wonderful examples in his life.

This weekend was chaotic in the best kind of way. I loved having our families here to celebrate the little things with us. It's pretty quiet around here now & I'm 50/50 on it. ;) A huge thanks to all of our family who joined us & who helped us out all weekend. We love you!

4th of July

We decided to avoid the craziness that is McCall on the 4th of July & went home for a few days. Matt was dying to hike into a lake just outside of McCall. He would be gone overnight & I haven't quite braved up enough to be home along overnight with both kids yet. Two kids is a game changer. Why do they both always need you at the same time?! It's one thing to be outnumbered during the day, but all day and all night without being able to text the hubby to complain... yikes. I'll have to give myself a big pep talk before that happens.

So after sacrament meeting on Sunday, the kids & I packed up and drove to Nampa. As we pulled in to Nampa Matt called us to tell us that he reached a little bit of cell service at the top of a mountain. His hike was killer, but he & Kane were having a good time!

It always feel so good to be home, even though it was hotter than h*ll in the valley. We got to go swimming with cousins at my sister's neighborhood pool. Kess loved it & Manning didn't care to have his feet in the water, so I snuggled him & he fell asleep. Matt joined us the night of the 3rd. We drove to Middleton on the 4th for the parade. We got there early & saved our spots for the parade. It was hot.hot.hot. Thankfully my sister had a mini fan for Manning - he crashed out and slept through most of the parade. Kess was bright red from running around with her cousins. Our parade spot happened to be in the "Wet Zone" so we spent the last part of the parade back off the road. The kids still thought it was cool to see & we knew they would hate getting sprayed.

Kess' dress 

After the parade we stopped in to see some friends who are building a house. I totally miss the house we just built so it was fun to see the process again & I was only a tiny bit jealous ;)

We put the kids go down for a nap (quiet time for Kess) - we all relaxed & made desserts for our BBQ later. My younger brother is in Florida working for the summer & my older brother was at Disneyland with his wife & 3 girls. So it was just my grandparents, parents sister & I with our little families. Which is a huge difference from what I grew up with. As a kid I remember being SO excited to go to my mom's parent's house for the 4th. Tons of food, swimming & our very own... totally legal ;) ... firework show. I grew up with 20+ cousins - so we were all running around like crazy kids - hopped up on sugar and summer time. But, this 4th was quiet and relaxing. Honestly just what we needed. We all ate together, then let the kids have a go with the hose. The 3 grandkids ended up nakey & running around together until it was time for "fireworks"... none of our kids like loud noises so we let them throw some pop-its & we lit some smoke bombs which were a total hit.

We rounded up the kids around 9:00 & decided to head home. Once we got Manning and Kess down for the night, Matt & I ate junk food & played Ticket to Ride with my parent's. I won, just in case you were wondering! ;) We even watched fireworks for a few minutes from my parent's deck. By then we were beat. You know you're old when midnight is way too late.

We spent the next morning slowly packing up. Then we stopped at Matt's parent's house to say hi! We miss not being able to see our families as often as we used to, but we are lucky enough to not be too far away. We grabbed lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant - ate way too much & drove to Matt's grandparent's house on our way out of town. We made it home round 5:30 & instantly had a vacation hangover. You know that feeling when you have too much to do & you're back in "real life mode" and you're not having any of it? Yep, that feeling.

Thank goodness for the shorty 2-day week before the weekend ;) I hope you all had a great 4th with your families! You deserve it!