Hello, hello! Before I get in to today’s post, I want to say a big thank you to those of you who shared advice on Monday’s weekend recap post regarding our toddler bedtime struggles!
On Tuesday we switched Riese’s crib to have a toddler rail so she can get in and out (because she wanted a big girl bed but the ones we’re looking at will take a couple months to come, so we figure this can be a good in between) and are now in the process of figuring out how that goes. We might experiment with a shorter nap, since some of you said that her staying up so late may mean she’s napping too late/too long – but we aren’t ready to give up her nap yet (and she isn’t, either – she’s a MESS when she skips it).
Stay tuned – I’ll keep you updated! I’ve been posting some updates on Instagram story too if you want to follow allow. 🙂
Anyway – how is everyone? We are looking forward to a fall weekend with some Halloween-themed activities (carving!) – anyone else? But first, let’s close out the week with some Friday Faves/things I’m loving lately.
Please note there are affiliate links in this post.
1) Halloween decorations!
Del Ray where we live goes all out for Halloween – the decorations are seriously legit! It has been fun to see all the elaborate displays popping up on our neighborhood walks.
Anyone else’s neighborhoods have serious Halloween decorating game?
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2) Fall cleaning.
I’ve been on a decluttering kick the past week that has felt good – going through my clothes, Riese’s toys, etc. Next up is convincing Matt to go through his clothes. 😉
Anyone else on a decluttering kick right now? I feel like I end up decluttering and organizing more in the fall than in the spring – the colder weather inspires me, I guess!
3) Books!
I finally got myself a Kindle (I got the Kindle Oasis – took advantage of Prime Day sales)!
I had a Nook e-reader for about a decade but it just went kaput, and you know how much I love reading from all my book posts (see also: Fiction Books I’ve Read Recently and Non-Fiction and Memoirs I’ve Rad Recently) so I definitely wanted to get a new one ASAP and decided to switch over to Kindle.
So far I’m loving it – I went for the Oasis vs. the Paperwhite (slightly cheaper) because I like that it has adjustable warm light – this was key for me because I read in bed a lot and didn’t want bright blue light messing with my sleep signals!
When I’m reading books that I think I might like to read again later, or that I’m trying to read more thoroughly/underline as I go, or if I read a book on my e-reader I really really love, I’ll buy a hard copy. But for most of my fiction/thriller type books that I fly through I like just having the e-reader so they aren’t cluttering up the house.
I’m curious – do you have an e-reader or do you prefer hard copy books?
The most recent book I read was All The Light We Cannot See – I have had it in hard copy for awhile now but hadn’t gotten to it yet, so it was a good excuse to read it when my Nook died last week! I flew through it – beautifully written.
As for Riese, we just got her this Antiracist Baby Board Book; Brene Brown recently (ish – it was early summer) interviewed Ibram X. Kendi on her podcast (highly recommend listening, it’s a good episode) and in the episode, he mentioned he had just come out with a children’s focused antiracist book.
Wanted to give it a shout out for those interested, too!
Riese’s favorite books lately, though, are the Mercy Watson books – they are geared towards bigger kids and have actual chapters, and she LOVES them. The chapters are fun for working on our numbers, too!
We have the box set of all 6 books and they are super cute and fun for us to read, too, which is always a nice bonus.
4) Blue Apron. (sponsored)
We are continuing our usual routine of Blue Apron dinners over here 3 times per week! Ever since we first tried Blue Apron back in 2013 we’ve been hooked – it’s so awesome to not have to worry about planning (and shopping for) a zillion unique and interesting dinners each week.
The meals are so creative, too! Some of our recent faves have been this tilapia with orzo, spinach, and tomatoes (and mushrooms that we added because we had some to use up):
Lemony shrimp with a spaghetti squash and sautéed kale:
And seared chicken with kale and roasted sweet potatoes (they were mostly buried under everything!):
If you haven’t tried Blue Apron yet, do it – it will be fun to cook the same meals and hear what you think of them! Click here for $60 off over your first 3 orders.
5) Fun Halloween desserts!
I’ve seen a bunch of cute ones floating around the internet, and wanted to share that I have a Halloween-themed dessert recipe here on the blog, too – it’s my Halloween Spiderweb Maple Brownie Cookies! It’s a really old recipe but a fun one, in case you’re interested. 🙂
They are whole wheat and delicious but not a complete sugar bomb which is always nice.
6) This cute sign outside Stomping Ground, one of our favorite coffee shops.
Seeing things like this gives me hope – we need all the positivity we can get lately, am I right?
I will leave you with this funny picture of Zara’s paws sticking out from under our bed – this terrified me because I stepped out of bed and felt something fuzzy and squishy and I didn’t realize she was under there!
She is usually on top of our bed, not under it, and I hadn’t heard her sneak in!
Of interest from around the web:
- How to track your cycle and adjust workout intensity throughout the month – this is fascinating!
- Favorite Halloween Books for Young Kids – I bought a couple of these after first seeing this post (Room on the Broom and The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything) and Riese is loving them!
- Easy Fudgy Pumpkin Brownies – these sound amazing
