What's Up Wednesday

 Hello there friends! I hope you've all been doing well. We have made it *almost* to the end of crazy busy May. Are you hanging in there? Today we have kindergarten graduation and I know it will be complete waterworks for me. Prior to being a mom, I was not a crier. Then, motherhood happened, and the simplest things made me cry. Then, my diagnosis happened, and now I don't stand a chance. Ya'll I'm not joking when I tell you I cried at BLUEY LIVE--- it wasn't even sad. I just had a moment of "I can't believe how sweet this is and I'm so happy I get to be a part of it." So... in case you were wondering, now you know I am that friend who cries over everything. I have no shame!

What We're Eating: Our Meal Train has come to an end and I am feeling well this week so we are cooking all the plant-based and Mediterranean dishes. We picked up some Parmesan crusted tilapia from Fresh Market along with some veggies. We're also having...

And this pea and asparagus gnocchi.

Devin is allergic to shellfish but he has been taking a Spanish class on Tuesday nights, so the kids and I are having this shrimp pasta on Devin's Spanish night. The kids love shrimp so we always try to have it on the nights Devin isn't with us for dinner. Why is Devin taking Spanish? Well, he used to be fluent.. but stopped traveling there for awhile and felt he was "losing" it. So he joined one of the local language schools in one of the higher classes and has been enjoying it.

What I'm Reminiscing About: With kindergarten graduation here it has me tearing up because I swear this girl just started kindergarten. It's funny, I wasn't emotional about her starting kindergarten because it still felt "little kid" to me. But now we have a "big kid" and my heart is struggling to handle it. Not to mention this beautiful new toothless smile we have going on at the moment. 

She said "I can't wait to go home and drink a juice box so I can put the straw through my hole." 😂 

I blinked and my baby became a big girl. 

What I'm Loving: Hi... my name is Lauren and I am a summer mom. I love lazy mornings when we aren't in a rush to be anywhere. I love afternoons and evenings spent at the pool. I love hours spent at the creek or the park. I love spending the evenings in our backyard. Summer is the best time of year, and I am here for all the summer fun! All that to say, some of these memes made me chuckle because even a summer mom gets this way from time to time...

I swear, if we don't have a plan, 4 pm is the worst time of day. 😆 The eternal witching hour. 

Hahaha we definitely have days that feel like this too!

What We've Been Up To: I have a whole Life Lately post set to come out this Friday because we have been busy! Between birthday parties, special activities at school, dance recitals and more... we hit the pillow hard at night!

What I'm Dreading: I feel like this one is so obvious I don't even have to say it... chemotherapy. I never knew I could hate something this much, but I do. 

What I'm Working On: Well this is fabulous news I haven't shared yet... as of next school year I will be going back to teach at my old school, where Lily Grace will be a first grader!! 10 years ago I got my Master's Degree in Literacy Education with the goal of moving into a Learning Support position. This is the position that helps children who have fallen behind academically catch up to where they need to be. Well, the person who was in that position loved it and had stayed there for years and years. About a month ago, the school called me and told me the position was available and they wanted me to take it. To say I was thrilled is an understatement! I get to be back at my "home away from home", with my sweet girl, in an incredibly fulfilling position. Does it get better than that?? So I'm "working on" getting all my ducks in a row so I am ready to go back to work in the fall.

What I'm Excited About: See above. Being back at my favorite school, working with some of my favorite people, and I get to be with LG. What a "win", any way you slice it. 

What I'm Watching/Reading: I have completely dropped the ball with reading. I'll get back into it eventually, but for right now we have been binge watching Better Call Saul and I am hooked. 

Ya'll... if you've seen it... can we agree that Gustavo Fring is one of the most well-written, well-acted characters ever? He is 3 steps ahead of every other character and I can't wait to see what they all get up to next. I love how clever the writing is. If you loved Breaking Bad, you'll love Better Call Saul. 

What I'm Listening To: I don't know about you, but Taylor Swift and her Eras Tour have taken over my social media. Her songs are so dang catchy. I have found myself going through her older albums, but also playing the newer ones too. Songs on repeat around here: Karma, Bejeweled, Cruel Summer, Anti-Hero, Blank Space, Bad Blood and more... I can't get enough Taylor right now.

What I'm Wearing:

Sleeveless Dress/Sandals

Sleeveless Shirt/Jeans

Jumpsuit

This picture is old, but I've been wearing Joggers and T-Shirts on the days we are just running errands around town. 

What I'm Doing This Weekend: More birthday parties! We have two birthday parties in the same day and then our season of birthday parties has come to an end. We had 9 in the month of May-- whew! I feel like the Berenstain Bears and "Too Much Birthday".

Best Amazon Purchase: I know I said this one last month, but we have seen so many birds come to our feeder that I had to do this one again!

Now, I will say it took the birds a few weeks to even notice the feeder was there. Now that they've noticed, they've been visiting it a LOT! They seem to be most active in the morning, but they come back pretty often in the evening too. 

This has turned out to be one of the best Amazon purchases ever. It was so crazy inexpensive and the whole family has been getting really excited about seeing the birds. 

Thanks for reading along today! I can't wait to read what you've been up to as well!